What happened to the man who won the lottery jackpot of over 5 trillion VND?

ENGLAND - Following controversies surrounding his private life, the man who won a £148 million lottery jackpot (approximately 5.274 billion VND) has recently attracted attention with his plans to build a school for children with special needs.

Adrian Bayford became a millionaire overnight after winning the lottery jackpot. Photo: Mirror

In August 2012, Adrian Bayford unexpectedly became the center of attention in England when he won the EuroMillions jackpot, worth £148 million (approximately 5.274 billion VND).

Overnight, he went from a man living a simple life to one of the super-rich. With his enormous fortune, Bayford became one of the most famous lottery winners of all time. However, this great stroke of luck turned out to be the beginning of a long series of misfortunes.

The marriage broke down after 15 months.

Adrian Bayford (55 years old), a former postal worker from Haverhill, Suffolk (England), has seen his life scrutinized by the media since winning the lottery, with most of his activities appearing in newspapers.

With their lottery win, he and his wife Gillian were ranked 516th among the richest people in Britain at the time, according to The Sun. The couple spent many sleepless nights figuring out how to spend their enormous fortune.

However, Adrian and his wife divorced just 15 months later. His wife claimed that money had caused the rift in their family. "It's heartbreaking and upsetting! Money is supposed to make people happy, but now it's made us demanding and greedy. My family has lost itself," she shared.

After divorcing his wife, Adrian's personal life has been marked by a series of other relationships. Since then, he has proposed four times. The most recent was to Tracey Biles (45 years old), an ambulance worker, on Christmas Day 2023.

His three other fiancées were Marta Jarosz, a sausage factory worker; Samantha Burbridge, a horse caretaker; and Lisa Kemp, an employee at Frankie & Benny's restaurant.

Adrian's £6.5 million property in Cambridgeshire. Photo: MSN

Expanding the business

Since winning the lottery, Adrian has become a millionaire involved in numerous business ventures and real estate investments.

He bought a sprawling mansion in Cambridgeshire for £6.5 million (231.6 billion VND), complete with luxurious amenities.

In 2020, he bought two estates in Scotland for £1.1 million and £1.35 million respectively. He has opened various businesses and services on his properties. He opened a record store, a pub, and even organized a music festival on the estate in 2017.

In 2023, he started renting out a small house on his property through Airbnb for £110 per night (approximately 4 million VND). A year later, he started renting out the land itself to earn extra money.

He also built his own vineyard in 2024, with the goal of producing wine. His vineyard covers approximately the size of six football fields.

In 2025, he attracted attention when he planned to build a large-scale amusement park for children on his land. However, his project was rejected by the council for being too modern for a rural area.

Sustainable living, focused on the community.

Together with his fiancée Tracey Biles, the millionaire is pursuing a sustainable lifestyle. He has grown his own vegetables in his garden, built a fish pond, and raised goats and pigs. He has also received approval for a plan to install a large solar panel system on his land.

Most recently, millionaire Adrian Bayford has attracted attention with a community-oriented project. He built an educational and experiential complex for children with special needs at his estate in Cambridgeshire.

Unlike traditional school models, this complex is designed to be an open educational space where children can learn through experiences in nature and outdoor activities. According to the project description, this environment will help "enhance sensory experiences, reduce anxiety, and improve concentration" for students, especially those with special educational needs.

Notably, this project received positive feedback from local authorities, according to DM .

Since his historic EuroMillions win in 2012, Adrian Bayford's life has been constantly scrutinized by the media, especially his romantic life after his failed marriage to his ex-wife Gillian. Close friends have revealed that he often feels pressured and wishes he had never won the jackpot.

However, the new project shows that the millionaire wants to use his wealth in a more positive way, focusing on supporting children who are facing psychological, educational, and living challenges.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nguoi-dan-ong-trung-so-doc-dac-hon-5-000-ty-dong-gio-ra-sao-2515273.html