Youngest lottery winner found dead

AP

CHRISTOPHER DONNELLY: Britain's youngest lottery winner has been found dead at his home.

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Police are investigating the death of a man who became a millionaire after winning Britain's National Lottery when he was 17.

Dumfries and Galloway Police said on Thursday they are looking into the death of 29-year-old Stuart Donnelly. He was found dead at his home in Castle Douglas in southwest Scotland this week.

Donnelly won just under 2 million pounds (NZ$4.35 million) in November 1997 and gained media attention for being one of Britain's youngest lottery winners. People must be 16 or over to play the lottery in Britain.

Soon after the win Donnelly became known for his generosity, British papers said.

The former trainee pharmacist spent £600,000 (NZ$1.3m) on new homes for his divorced parents, bought holiday homes in Thailand for his family, gave money to aunts and uncles and donated £15,000 (NZ$32,600) to a Glasgow hospital that treated his younger brother for a rare blood disorder, the Guardian said.

But friends said he was increasingly unable to handle to strain of being a millionaire and the publicity that came with it, the Daily Mail reported.

"It was very hard to deal with all the attention I got. I even had people camping outside my house. It put a huge strain on me and my family," he said in 2003.

On his social networking profile, Donnelly wrote how he hated socialising, and said he was happiest doing "basically, anything that involves not leaving the house".

Friends, as well as people who said they'd never met Donnelly, left tributes on his profile.

Mr Donnelly's mother, May, and other family members were said to be returning from holiday in Portugal.

Police say a post-mortem will be performed but Donnelly's death is not suspicious. He was believed to have suffered from health problems, the Mail reported.