'Guilt' of £15m Lottery winner

Britain's biggest-known Lotto winner confessed today she was wracked with guilt after winning £15 million in the National Lottery's Superdraw jackpot.

Production line worker Thea Bristow, 50, scooped the prize at the weekend to become the biggest female prizewinner - and the biggest single winner to agree to have her name in lights.

But she admitted today her good luck left her feeling guilty. "It's quite hard," said Mrs Bristow, from Torquay. "I've not got my head round it."

Her husband Paul, 53, said: "It's an obscene amount of money."

Mrs Bristow said one of the first things she plans to buy is a Ford Ka - even though she does not know how to drive.

"I've not driven a car for 30 years," she said. "I only did two yards around the car park. I was accused of breaking his half-shaft. I've never driven since, but I intend to try again."

Mrs Bristow bought the ticket while on a day trip to London with her mother, Anne, to see her aunt. She did not realise she had won until she got up the next morning and checked the Teletext.

"I thought I was dreaming. I looked again and looked again - I thought, 'I don't believe this. There's no way that those six numbers are the same six numbers that are on this ticket'."

Most Lottery winners have to decide whether to give up work. For Mrs Bristow that will not be a problem, because the company she works for is winding up and she is due to be made redundant by the end of the year.

The spending spree has not started yet - so far, all Mrs Bristow has bought is a new suit. "We will treat the family. I've asked them to write lists which is a dangerous thing to do, perhaps, but they deserve it. They will get their lives changed just as ours have been."