THE winner of a £105m EuroMillions jackpot has been revealed as a builder who only checked his ticket because his colleague was running late for a job.

Steve Thomson is the ninth-biggest winner in the history of the National Lottery, securing a life-changing sum of money for his young family from Selsey.

The 42-year-old and his wife, who have three school-age children, said they are still gob-smacked by their prize, which was only discovered while Mr Thomson waited to be picked up for work three days after the draw was made.

He said: "I am not sure I even looked at the first two lines, the third one just jumped out and I could instantly tell they all matched. I started shaking a lot. I knew it was a really big win but didn't know what to do.

"I went out to my van, walked back in, thought about knocking on a neighbour's door, went back to the van - I think I was on the verge of having a heart attack."

The Argus:

Mr Thomson has already had a few cheeky spending requests from his kids, including a Tesla for his 10-year-old son and a somewhat more modest pink iPhone for his eight-year-old daughter.

His wife Lenka made an early request for a Christmas holiday - but at that stage she had missed a few zeroes off the winning total and thought the prize was £105,000.

She said the money - secured by the numbers 08, 10, 15, 30 and 42, and the Lucky Stars digits 04 and 06 - would make their annual trips to Slovakia to visit her family a lot more affordable.

She added: "Not only can I treat my family and see them more often, but we can also look to have other holidays, perhaps somewhere hot with a beach."

Lenka was studying in the UK when the couple first met at a local leisure centre in Selsey, south of Chichester, and they have been together for 17 years.

The Argus:

The Argus:

They have two sons, aged 15 and 10, and their daughter is eight.

Mr Thomson said: "To be able to give our children a bedroom each is a big thing, so we have been looking for a house.

"We will stay locally but somewhere with some space. I would like to build our own place eventually but we've been looking at houses online for now. We will also support our families by buying them houses."

The draw on 19 November came on what was the 25th anniversary of the National Lottery.

It was the fourth time this year a EuroMillions ticket bought in the UK has scooped a nine-figure prize, with an unknown winner claiming £123m back in June and a couple from Northern Ireland winning £115m in January.

Other jackpot wins for UK players in 2019 include Ade Goodchild, who banked £71m in March, and an anonymous contestant who bagged £38m in April.