UK lottery win wife leaves husband for mattress tycoon Mike Clare

A married couple who won the UK National Lottery in 2004, have split after the wife started a relationship with a Sunday Times Rich List businessman. However, the former mattress magnate has denied the husband's claims but confirmed he is seeing a group of women while remaining married.

David and Victoria Jones won £2.3m ($3.02m) on the Lottery in 2004, after having been married for just a month, and set up a property portfolio in Wiltshire with the winnings. However, Mrs Jones said the win had not entirely changed her life for the better and the relationship began to deteriorate.

According to the Mail Online, Mrs Jones said winning the lottery created "stress" in her life. "Even 12 years down the line, I'm still classed as a lottery winner and it's horrible. It ruins your life. People treat you differently – it's just not a nice thing."

Mr Jones discovered the relationship between Mrs Jones and Mike Clare, former owner of mattress retailer Dreams, after reading text messages exchanged between the two while on holiday.

Clare is worth an estimated £260m, after selling Dreams for £222m in 2008 – almost 100 times the amount won by Mr and Mrs Jones.

Mrs Jones initially denied a relationship with the businessman, saying she was "just good friends" with Mr Clare.

Mr Jones said the alleged affair had prevented him from working – he continued to work in a scrapyard after the lottery win – for eight months, and that the pair's assets were in the process of being split.

Mr Clare, who is ranked 403<sup>rd on the Sunday Times Rich List, now runs property firm Clarenco, which boasts £95m worth of properties, and according to the company website lists "making dreams come true" among his hobbies. The businessman is still married to his wife Carol.

When questioned about the alleged relationship, Clare confirmed: "I am seeing Victoria Jones. She didn't leave her husband for me.

"We're not living together, I'm quite friendly with my wife Carol. I haven't just seen Victoria. Everyone knows I've seen different girls and my wife is aware."