VIDEO: £5.4 million lottery winner from Sheffield convinced her numbers will come up again

A lottery winner from Sheffield senses another bonanza is imminent, she revealed today as she returned to the Post Office where she bought her winning ticket.
Deana Sampson hugs post mistress Balwinder Dhillon, who sold her the winning ticket all those years agoDeana Sampson hugs post mistress Balwinder Dhillon, who sold her the winning ticket all those years ago
Deana Sampson hugs post mistress Balwinder Dhillon, who sold her the winning ticket all those years ago

Deana Sampson lived on the Stradbroke estate and was struggling to make ends meet for her young family before scooping £5.4 million on the National Lottery in October 1996, forever changing their lives.

The 56-year-old now lives in a plush house in Mosborough, owns holiday homes in Florida and the Dominican Republic, and runs a property company with her son Ryan which has 10 homes dotted around the south of Sheffield.

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Deana Sampson hugs post mistress Balwinder Dhillon, who sold her the winning ticket all those years agoDeana Sampson hugs post mistress Balwinder Dhillon, who sold her the winning ticket all those years ago
Deana Sampson hugs post mistress Balwinder Dhillon, who sold her the winning ticket all those years ago
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She has had her share of ups and downs since hitting the jackpot 22 years ago, but claimed life today is better than she ever dreamed it could be before her numbers came up.

"It's been everything I expected and more. I'm still here, we have a thriving property company, I'm happy, healthy and I've got great friends and a great family, with one grand-daughter and another on the way," she said.

Deana, who still plays the lottery occasionally, says she has had several smaller wins since and believes another big one is imminent.

Deana and Balwinder beside the golden National Lottery playstation unveiled in her honour at the Post OfficeDeana and Balwinder beside the golden National Lottery playstation unveiled in her honour at the Post Office
Deana and Balwinder beside the golden National Lottery playstation unveiled in her honour at the Post Office

"I've always thought I would win it again and I reckon it will be soon now - within the next year," she said.

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Deana was back at the store on Stradbroke Drive on Tuesday for the first time since buying her winning ticket there to unveil a new gold playstation, complete with her lucky handprint for other lottery players to rub.

She hugged Balwinder Dhillon, the post mistress who sold her the ticket all those years ago, and said it was great to be back in the area where she and Ryan, aged 33, were visiting a home that afternoon which could become the latest addition to their property portfolio.

Deana, who lived on Ravenscroft Road at the time, revealed how she would always buy a couple of lottery tickets when she visited each Monday to pick up her child benefit - a revelation which prompted Ryan to joke that the winnings really belonged to him and his 26-year-old sister Harley in that case.

Her severely disabled brother Glyn, who had died four months earlier, came to her in a dream that week saying she would win and presenting her with the winning numbers.

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She wrote those numbers down and bought a third ticket that week, and although it was the 'lucky dip' numbers she had previously used which actually came up she still credits him for the win.

She was sitting on his seat, beside her parents Ivy, a former postwoman and cleaner, and Lou, an ex-steelworker, when the numbers were read out that Saturday.

She was so poor at the time she said she had been 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' and could not even afford to buy herself a celebratory drink that night.

Her first big purchase was a £152,000 house, she spent £40,000 on a luxury holiday for herself and 22 relatives, and she estimates she gave away £1m in total to her family, charities and friends.

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Life was not without its troubles. She and her second husband divorced five years later and she met another man, with whom she opened a string of bars around Chesterfield but from whom she has since separated. She also started her own lingerie range, which she says was 'fun while it lasted'.

Asked what the best thing about winning had been, she claimed it was getting to spoil her parents, who have both since died, in their later years.

"Mum and Dad struggled all their lives. Dad worked in the steelworks and Mum did anything to make ends meet, while caring for Glyn," she said.

"With the money I was able to buy them a bungalow, pay all their bills and take them on some amazing holidays. The last 10 years of their lives were amazing."

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Mrs Dhillon, who has run Stradbroke Post Office with her family for 32 years, said Deana had been one of her best customers, who had always been very friendly, and she couldn't think of a more deserving winner.

Remarkably, she is not the only big National Lottery winner to have bought her ticket at the store.

Five years ago, a woman called Lynne, who worked as a shop assistant there, won £250,000. She had been due to retire in a year but brought that forward, after kindly volunteering to stay on until a replacement could be found.

The National Lottery has created 5,000 millionaires since its launch in 1994, including 101 in Sheffield, where there have been 917 big prize winners in that time.