Money can’t buy you love

SHROPSHIRE: For nearly 25 years, Keith and Louise Gough, both 56 with a 12-year-old son, enjoyed a happy marriage despite having to scrimp and save.

So when the couple won £9 million on the National Lottery two years ago, they were quick to toast their good fortune, saying: “We never have to worry again.” But the millionaire lifestyle has brought only heartache to the once-happy pair with the news that they have split up.

Said a close friend: “It’s all very sad. You would think £9 million would sort out any problems, but they are living proof that money can’t buy you happiness.

“Keith hasn’t been seen for ages and has been treated for depression. As far as people know, he’s staying with friends.

“They had 25 years as an ordinary couple with no real money and had lasted less than two since they became millionaires. Everyone’s really upset about it.” Keith was working as a chef and Louise a legal secretary when they won the rollover jackpot prize in 2005. They described how money had been so tight that they once had to cancel a trip to Weymouth because they needed buy a new stove.

With their winnings, the couple planned to buy a motorhome and travel around the UK, while Louise spoke of owning a big shoe collection.

Since then, they had moved from their £160,000 semidetached home in Bridgnorth into a £500,000 detached unit around the corner.

Keith quit his job, and invested in racehorses and bought a £60,000 BMW. In recent months, he is thought to have suffered from depression.

Neighbours say he has not been seen at home for several weeks.

Now the couple are believed to be in the process of divorcing.

Louise, who bought the winning ticket in a local corner shop, had described how her husband dreamt their numbers would come up.

After checking the ticket, he burst into her offi ce to break the news. “I dismissed it and told him that ‘everyone has those kind of dreams’ and to forget about it,” she was to recall at the handing over of the cheque. “When Keith turned up at work, I thought something had happened. He wouldn’t stop shaking and I thought, ‘For goodness sake!’ and just wanted to slap him.

“I asked him what the matter was and he said, ‘You’ve won the jackpot. It’s £9 million’. I said: ‘It can’t be true. I don’t believe it!’” Her husband had said: “I have never had a dream come true before. Now I suppose I don’t have to have any dreams.” Today, Louise, who also has a 35-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, was alone at their home, which had a Skoda and a Peugeot convertible parked in the driveway.

She refused to comment but later said in a statement that “sadly” she and her husband had separated. She said they were still in contact and on speaking terms, but would not say what had caused the split. — DM

Source : The Malay Mail