Britain's oldest lottery winner dies five years after 'well-liked' dad scooped £18million

Britain's oldest lottery winner has sadly died five years after scooping a huge £18million jackpot, his loved ones have revealed.

Dennis Banfield, 92, won the jackpot with his 87-year-old wife Shirley and the couple shared the winnings with their two daughters, Karen and Tina. The lucky pair burst into tears at a press conference when they received their cheque for £18,139,352.

Shirley, who was married to Dennis for more than 60 years, said he was "well-liked" and revealed that before passing away, he said he was "ready to go" after living "a good life". The woman said many paid tribute to Dennis when he passed away "peacefully" last July.

She told The Sun: "He was so well liked but he's gone now. He said when he was going, 'I've had a good life, I've done a lot and I've seen a lot and I'm ready to go now'. We had a lot of tributes when he died."

His 30-year-old granddaughter Lucy Probert also paid tribute to Dennis as she wrote online: "Missing you more as everyday passes. We love you Grandad."

During lockdown, Dennis used his time at home to create a beautiful Christmas crib - after his daughter got him set up with a new iPad. Dennis's daughters made sure their mum and dad had the internet installed at the start of the year and the passionate amateur woodworker has "spent many happy hours looking for new tools on the internet, watching videos and reading reviews on YouTube and shopping online at Axminster Tools."

The lucky lottery winner was retired for more than 30 years and always kept busy with some project on the go in his workshop at home. He also donated to his local church and over the years he made no less than 50 nativity cribs for friends and family.

Describing the moment the couple found out they had won the massive jackpot in 2018, Dennis said: "Shirley went berserk, she went flying up in the air. Tina thought her mum had fallen over, and said: 'Has mum had a fall?' I had the ticket in my hand for all of five minutes and didn't see it again all day."

At the time, the couple's eldest daughter Tina said: "It's not every day your parents call you at 8am to tell you they have won the lottery. So when they did make that call on Sunday, my first thought was it must be a mistake and I immediately headed over the check. Seeing those six numbers first on their TV screen and then also matching on the National Lottery site was a magical moment."