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Scratchcard win sees Stowmarket couple scoop £1 million




Marilyn Fairfull with husband, Matt, after they won £1 million on a scratchcard
Marilyn Fairfull with husband, Matt, after they won £1 million on a scratchcard

A Stowmarket couple are celebrating after a little treat won them £1m on a National Lottery scratchcard.

Marilyn Fairfull, 64, and her husband, Matt, 62, scooped the top prize on the Monopoly card after Marilyn went to the Esso garage in Combs Ford.

She said: “I was on the way to pick up one of my sons from the train station, from a replacement bus service. I stopped off and I already had a £10 winning card, so I decided to cash them in and treat myself to two £5 cards.”

At the station, Marilyn scratched the first and won £20, which she said was lovely as she had doubled her money.

It wasn’t until she scratched the fourth game on the second card that luck struck even bigger.

She said: “I felt physically sick, because you don’t believe these things do you and I just kept looking at it until my son arrived and I asked him to have a look.”

The pair went back to the petrol station and it confirmed that the part-time picker and packer from a greetings card dispatch company had to call Camelot as the prize was too big for the garage to pay out.

Mr Fairfull, a self employed plasterer, first heard the news when they got home.

He said: “I was on the phone to a lady I had just finished a job for and my son walked in and said ‘Mum has just won a million pounds’.

“I said to the lady that I would have to call her back as my wife and son were trying to wind me up.”

But it was no joke and now the couple, who have been married for 33 years, plan to completely redecorate their home, take a holiday to Jamaica, get a bigger TV and treat their four sons and five grandchildren.

Both have said they will carry on working, Matt, who said he works seven days a week has said he will take it easier, by only working six and a half.

Mr Fairfull said: “Like everybody we have had good times and bad times and now we have got a chance to have a really good time.”