UK’s greatest ever lottery winner blew £40m of jackpot at a charge of £100k-a-week

For most people, 100 grand would be life-changing money, a total that could help them for the rest of their lives.

For Scotsman Colin Weir, who took home £161 million along with his wife Chris to become the largest ever EuroMillions winners in 2011, that amount became his weekly allowance.

The flush Brit, whose eye-watering lottery win was only bettered by an unnamed Italian winner in 2019, lived a lavish lifestyle, bought a fleet of fancy cars, and even had the main stand of his football team’s stadium named in his honour.

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Following his death in 2019, Colin’s spending spree was estimated to have been north of £40 million over eight-years, a feat which one perceptive financial expert declared would have ‘taken a bit of doing’.

To put the figure into perspective, with that amount of dough you could buy the Daily Star every morning for the next 130,000 years, give or take.

Surprisingly, Colin spent his fortune in other ways:

Achieving footballing immortality

Colin, who had worked as a cameraman before his record win, was an avid Partick Thistle fan, and pumped the club he loved with cash.

Along with his wife, Colin helped purchase the Scottish team a brand new youth training centre, which the couple named after themselves.

To commemorate Colin’s many investments, the main stand of Thistle’s Firhill Park Stadium was renamed the Colin Weir stand in 2016.

And in a final gesture of goodwill, the lottery winner bought a 55% stake in Partick Thistle a month before he died so he could donate the club to the fans and put its future in the hands of the local community.

The purchase wasn’t Colin’s only charitable endeavour. The loaded Scot once paid for a prosthetic leg for a teenage boy, and set up a £5 million centre for local kids to learn sport and other activities.

Independence push

Colin and his wife Chris were big fans of the Scottish National Party, and supported the push for the nation’s independence.

The couple, who were both from Largs in Ayrshire, gave over £2 million pounds to the SNP during Nichola Sturgeon’s time in charge, and made a £1 million pound donation to the Yes campaign in 2014.

In a letter to the Herald and the Scotsman, the pair admitted they had suffered trolling following their support for Scottish Independence.

Upon hearing of her former donor’s death, former Scottish First Minister Sturgeon released a statement saying: “Colin’s determination and generosity in the cause of Scottish independence cannot be overstated and was hugely appreciated. The SNP and the independence movement has lost a true friend today and we will miss him dearly.”

Living in luxury

Colin was known to be a fan of classic cars, and purchased an impressive fleet over eight years.

His collection included a vintage Bentley Arnage, worth £10,000, a £28,250 three-year-old Jaguar F-Pace SUV, a £24,000 four-year-old Mercedes Benz E Class Estate and a 2019 Mercedes Benz V Class people carrier, valued at about £35,000.

At the time of his death, he lived in a £1.1million five-bedroom seafront home in Ayr, which he bought in June 2018 after divorcing his wife and fellow winner Chris. Colin’s will shows that when he died suddenly from sepsis and an “acute kidney injury”, he owned furniture, jewellery and artworks valued at about £212,000.

Racing fan Colin also partly owned three thoroughbreds, including geldings Knighted and Felony, and Irish mare If You Say Run.

The generous winner even hosted a lavish party for his friends and family from beyond the grave. Guests dined on lobster, drank £340-a-bottle champagne and £40-a-plate truffle soup at a £1 million event.

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