National Lottery winners stunned after £1.8million fortune disappears - 'No one has any sympathy'

A series of poor financial decisions and business ventures have resulted in a couple’s huge National Lottery prize disappearing in just a few years.

Roger and Lara Griffiths won a £1.8million fortune in 2005 before buying a beautiful £800,000 property, but are now questioning where it all went wrong.

Mum-of-two Lara suggests the sum was doomed from the start, telling MailOnline that she and her now ex-husband regularly argued about how the money should be spent.

She claims Roger was keen for them both to quit their jobs and spend the money sparingly, while she advocated for a more cautious approach with careful investments.

Despite their good intentions, Lara says they spent too much too quickly, with five-star holidays to Dubai, Majorca, Monaco and New York all on the agenda.

Roger bought a £28,000 Porsche convertible while Lara sent their daughters to a £10,000-a-year private school.

The couple splurged the cash on material items such as jewellery, clothes, furniture and designer bags.

Roger even used the money to treat himself to botox treatment and freshly whitened teeth.

The couple's fortune dissipating is among many examples of people who have suffered a similar fate with their National Lottery sums
Victoria Jones

He then gave up his job to become a househusband, where he managed their investments and looked to revive his childhood dream of becoming a rockstar.

While Lara struggled to make their beauty spa business work, Roger splashed out £4,000 on new guitars and £25,000 on making a record which flopped at the charts.

She said: “I was working all hours, up to 9pm or 10pm at night trying to make a success of the spa, but it was haemorrhaging money.

“Roger was brilliant with the children, but I resented him being at home and kept on at him to get a job, especially as I was so busy at work I didn’t even have time for a lunch break.”

The couple eventually separated after the money ran out
Yui Mok

The couple were then compounded by a slice of bad luck on New Year’s Eve in 2010 when a fire gutted their uninsured property.

The couple then had to pay for temporary accommodation for seven months.

The couple eventually separated after their money ran out, but Lara admits she doesn’t regret the hefty financial windfall.

"We felt scared. You are constantly thinking 'Is this wrong? Will we lose it? Is this the right decision to make? How long will it last?'”, she said.

"Let me tell you, winning the lottery is not all it’s cracked up to be. Most people end up worse off in some way, and no one has any sympathy because you won the money instead of earning it”, she added.