23 March 2024 , 16:22
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The new neighbours of a EuroMillions jackpot winner "had no idea" he scooped £45million aged just 22.
Matt Topham bagged the lottery win with then-girlfriend Cassey Carrington in 2012, and the childhood sweethearts got hitched the same year.
Matt went on to have three kids with Cassey, but the couple recently confirmed their split. Matt, who is a former decorator, has since moved on with girlfriend Amy Cox, and the pair have shown loved-up displays on ski trips and luxurious London date nights.
The dad of three has also been spotted chauffeuring around Ms Cox in his Maserati. Ms Cox, who is thought to have three children of her own, is understood to live in a house near Lincoln, where neighbours said they "had no idea" of Matt's huge win.
"We had no idea he was a lottery winner. He comes around in his Maserati so he must still have a bob or two," said one neighbour. Another added: "I don’t think she has ever worked because she is busy looking after her children, who are all pre-schoolers."
'Gobsmacked' mum starts 2023 with lotto win after almost cancelling ticket
Matt Topham and Cassey Carrington won the lottery but are no longer together (Daily Mirror)
Matt, a former decorator, is pictured on his stag do in Amsterdam after his lottery win (Sunday Mirror)Matt's life has changed hugely since the lottery windfall. In 2021, he was spared jail despite killing a pensioner in a head-on crash in North Cockerington, Lincolnshire. Matt said he was "distracted" by the screaming and crying of his two-year-old child in the moments before the collision - on Christmas Day 2019.
But Ms Cox's neighbours expressed their hope Matt will give them the woman "happiness" following an alleged string of failed relationships. When Matt split with Cassey, he wrote on social media: "Sometimes, no matter how nice, kind, caring and loving you are, it just isn’t good enough for some people.”
Matt is pictured celebrating his joy with Cassey (PA)Quizzed on the separation, Cassey told The Sun: "Matt doesn’t live here anymore." Asked if there was any comment she wanted to make on the split she replied: "No, thank you."
A zoo bought by Matt and Cassey in 2020 — Rushmoor Country Park in Louth, Lincolnshire — had “shut down” amid financial strain, it was reported last year.
It was snapped up by Matt as a £600,000 gift to his mother-in-law Jane. He used the jackpot to fill the petting zoo with horses, pigs, pygmy goats, llamas and ducks. The couple also bought a falconry centre to house falcons, owls, hawks and a sea eagle at the centre, which Jane had run for years.