The £9.7m win and the 'Lotto Lout'
When binman Michael Carroll scooped a £9.7m National Lottery jackpot in 2002, he was already wearing an electronic tag imposed for being drunk and disorderly. Newspapers branded him a "Lotto Lout" because of his lengthy criminal record.
The self-proclaimed "King of the Chavs" vowed to go straight after the win, but his newfound infamy and fortune did nothing to dilute his penchant for petty crime. In 2005 he became the richest man to be given an Asbo.
Carroll persuaded a court to deactivate the tag for seven days and lift a curfew order to allow him to escape media attention after becoming a millionaire. But magistrates in King's Lynn said the restrictions should be reimposed at a court hearing the following week.
A fortune blown
He bought a mansion and turned its garden into a 24-hour racetrack. He blew money on drug-fuelled orgies, fast cars and gambling, and even invested in Rangers Football Club. When he was jailed for affray in 2006, Norwich Crown court heard he had 42 previous offences recorded since 1997.
Just before he was jailed, Carroll admitted in an interview that he had spent £1.2m of his lottery fortune on cocaine. That same year, his biographer predicted he would be completely broke within 12 months.
Writer Sean Boru said at the time: "He has actually got no cash assets at all. He has actually blown the lot. People did advise him, but he doesn't take advice." Asked if he regretted what he had done since winning the jackpot, Carroll once said: "When you give nine million pounds to a 19-year-old what do you think is going to happen?"
Life after the money
In 2010, Carroll said he wanted his old job back as a binman in his home region of Norfolk. But bosses at Veolia Environmental Services said they were not hiring operatives at that time.
He appeared in court more than 30 times after his win, but is now living a more peaceful life in Scotland. He was declared penniless in 2019 and was last reported to be working as a coalman.
He reunited with ex-wife Sandra Aitken, to whom he was married from 2003 to 2008, and the couple quietly remarried in October 2021.
Family tragedy
Two years later, his sister Zoe, who had been given £1 million after the windfall, died in 2023 after a cocaine binge on the day of her cousin's funeral. Their mum Kim McCleary said Zoe and Michael were "very close". After an inquest into Zoe's death, Kim said: "They were like two peas in a pod. He has not taken her death very well."
In 2016, Carroll's uncle Stephen Muncaster shot his wife in the head then turned the gun on himself. Stephen and Carroll appeared on national TV together after the huge Lotto win.
