Neighbours share £1m prize

A COMMUNITY of serving and exarmed forces personnel who live on the same street have shared a £1m lottery prize.

- CLARE AINSWORTH

The stunned military men and women were brought to attention when they were all presented with cheques for £100,000.

Darren Penk, 48, a former sergeant with 4 Rifles, said: “This whole street and all the way round the corner is about 80% military.

“It’s a military community as well as a civilian one. We’re all part of the one street, but it’s great that so many military personnel have won.”

Fibre optic splicer Darren shared the £1m jackpot with eight neighbours in Plymouth, Devon, after PL6 7EA was revealed as today’s winner of Postcode Lottery’s weekly Millionaire Street prize.

Every ticket was worth £100,000, but Darren bagged £200,000 by buying two.

Now he’s planning a lads’ holiday to Benidorm with his two sons, aged 21 and 18.

Wife Justine, 47, a nursery practitioner, chipped in: “I want to go to New York! I’m just a bit shocked because things like this never happens to us. But we’re happy.”

Friends Alison Hutchings and Tracy Arnott picked up their windfalls with their hubbies, who had served together in the Royal Marines.

Tracy, 52, a former leading hand in the Royal Navy, revealed she only bagged the prize because of a delayed house move.