School janitor wins more than £183,000 on EuroMillions

A school caretaker is planning to take early retirement after scooping more than £183,000 on EuroMillions – and has helped to get his brother a passport for his first holiday abroad.

John McDowell, 53, from Bathgate, West Lothian, is hoping to retire before he turns 60, and will use his winnings to help his daughters get on the property ladder.

The father-of-three is planning to splash out on a new car, and to get his mother a new kitchen after winning £183,257.40 on September 6.

Mr McDowell is caring for his father, and woke him up to tell him the news after seeing an email, describing the moment as “surreal”.

John McDowell, from Bathgate, West Lothian, celebrates winning the EuroMillions (Alan Peebles/PA Wire) PA Media

He booked a holiday for Egypt at Christmas to take his brother abroad for the first time, and has begun the process of getting him a passport.

Mr McDowell said: “I absolutely love my job but winning this money will mean I get to retire that little bit earlier and put my feet up sooner.

“I can’t wait to treat my family – my brother has never been abroad before so the first thing I wanted to do was book a holiday somewhere hot and sunny for us both.

“I asked him whether he fancied spending Christmas in Egypt as it would be nice to spend some time swapping the cold Scottish weather for somewhere warm at that time of year. He agreed, so I told him to get a passport ordered. It will be a really special holiday.

John McDowell celebrates his National Lottery win (Alan Peebles/PA Wire) PA Media

“I have been wanting to get myself a new car for a while, but I’ve been putting it off, but I’ll definitely be shopping for one soon. I like to travel up north to get away from it all, so I’d love to get an SUV-style car – maybe a Kia Sportage – to help me explore.

“I would also like to help my daughters plan for their futures, so I’ll now also be able to help them to get on the property ladder when the time’s right.”

He described the feeling of winning as “surreal” after three years of buying lottery tickets.

He matched the five main numbers and one Lucky Star number in the EuroMillions draw on September 6. The winning numbers from that draw were 12, 14, 34, 41, 47 and the Lucky Star numbers were 3 and 4.

Mr McDowell said: “On the night I won, I was just about to go to bed and had a quick look at my phone and saw an email from The National Lottery.

“I was going to ignore it as I thought it would be nothing, but curiosity got the better of me and I had a look and realised it said I had matched five main numbers and one Lucky Star.

“Everyone in the house was in bed so I made myself a cup of tea before telling anyone – I then woke my dad up to tell him and he didn’t understand at first – he thought I was joking. It’s so surreal, I still can’t believe it.”