Bus driver Peter Lavery won £10.2m on the National Lottery in 1996 – but was too drunk to remember at the time, and faced an unexpected dark side when he returned home from his celebratory holiday09:55, 02 Jul 2026A man who scooped an incredible £10.2million on the lottery in 1996 faced a darker reality immediately upon returning to Belfast — after a celebratory getaway with his family.‌Peter Lavery was 34 when he won and was out with friends when someone informed him he'd struck gold.‌Yet, too intoxicated to recall clearly, it wasn't until the following morning he grasped his life had transformed forever after verifying his numbers. In a recent interview, he remembered: "It felt unreal."‌When asked on the In Good Company podcast whether he instantly had plans for the enormous sum, he said: "Put it this way, in the first four weeks, I spent £3million giving it away to my family and charities."Following the discovery on Sunday morning, he then completed a five-hour shift as a bus driver, where he earned £200 weekly, but by Wednesday, he'd resigned from his position and was at a five-star resort in the Caribbean.‌He said: "12 members, between friends and family, came with me to St Lucia. My first trip to St Lucia cost £66,000. It was all flying out club class, you name it, it was the best resort in the centre of St Lucia."Peter said he awoke on holiday each morning struggling to comprehend what had occurred — and he said it felt like a dream.Yet, the lottery winner, who was raised in the working class area of Short Strand, found it turned into something of a nightmare upon his return to Belfast from holiday. By that point, he had found himself at the heart of a media storm, with virtually everyone in the city aware of his newfound fortune.‌When asked whether people had come to him seeking money, he said: "I've had that. I got back to Belfast after my three-and-a-half weeks away. The head of the post office came to my door right, and he goes, 'We have 15,000 letters in the exchange for you, what do you want me to do with them?'"Completely overwhelmed, Peter requested the letters be sent back to their senders, noting that most envelopes didn't even carry his address, simply bearing the words: "Peter Lavery lottery winner."‌He revealed that some did make it through his letterbox, and when asked whether any caught his attention, Peter said: "They do, but where do you start and where do you finish?""People who come, they're in desperate situations to do so, like they must be so desperate to think you are the answer."He went on to say: "Listen, you can only do what you can do, and sometimes you give an organisation £1,000 and they turn and say 'you may as well give us two' so as long as my heart tells you I've done something... I didn't have to do anything.‌"And if you don't get that in your head, then you put your own head away too."Despite spending a considerable chunk of his winnings, Peter is now widely recognised as a thriving businessman and founder of Titanic Distillers. However, having initially become one of Northern Ireland's wealthiest men overnight, he previously described the experience as the "biggest upheaval" of his life.‌He indulged heavily in food, drink and partying, and after purchasing a family home for his siblings, he splashed out £300,000 to reside in the prestigious 'Golden Triangle' area.Within the first two years, he also blew half a million pounds on cars, including Jaguars and Bentleys, though he later offloaded his luxury vehicles, keeping only his Mercedes.The pressures of being a lottery winner eventually began to affect his health, and as he approached his 40th birthday, he hit rock bottom.‌He came to the stark realisation that his drinking could kill him, and was subsequently diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes.Speaking in 2023 for a BBC documentary, he said: "I didn't drink every day but once I got a drink in me I just didn't want to go home so I would be out in Belfast until four or five in the morning. It's nothing to be proud of."I didn't have liver or heart problems but my sugar levels were going in the wrong direction and my doctor, who's a good friend of mine, told me to change my lifestyle or I'd be injecting insulin forever."Article continues belowPeter, who is now teetotal, has built a reputation for his charitable nature over the years, donating nearly £2million to various causes. He also famously treated 20 children affected by the Troubles, along with their parents, to a trip to Disney World in Florida as a way of giving something back.