Cleaner 'sorry' for lost jackpot

Mary Mason was planning a very special Christmas with her winnings

A cleaner has apologised to his lottery syndicate for missing out on a share of an £8.5m jackpot after he ran out of money to buy enough tickets.

Andrew Edwards from Ketley bought the tickets for 15 staff at New College, Telford, Shropshire, on Saturday.

The cleaners should have been £100,000 richer after the numbers came up but Mr Edwards did not have enough change to choose the winning line.

Mr Edwards said he was very sorry and cannot believe what has happened.

I was quite calm to start off with. Plus, I thought I'm not going to let it eat away at me Marie Roy

"I am not hiding anything. We have not got the win.

"How am I going to get away with it? We are in a syndicate. I would not do that to any of them.

"Most of them are in my family. I really feel sorry."

Agonisingly, he plumped for 13 other number combinations, members said.

Syndicate member Marie Roy told BBC News she has not seen Mr Edwards since Sunday.

She said: "I was quite calm to start off with. Plus, I thought I'm not going to let it eat away at me.

'Fantastic Christmas'

"But as the week's gone on I've got more angry and more gutted and we need answers."

Another syndicate member Mary Mason said she was "shattered".

She told BBC News: "At first I was over the moon, until it sunk in. I was working out in my mind what to do with the money.

"It would have been a fantastic Christmas."

She added: "I don't know what to do now, but I won't let the matter rest."

Fellow syndicate member Gail Ball told BBC Radio Shropshire: "At the beginning I was okay about it - I've got my family and that's all I really need.

"But as time's gone on, it's like I'm not even here. It's like a dream."

Camelot said four winners shared more than £2.1m each from Saturday's jackpot fund of just over £8.5m after picking the winning numbers - 1, 4, 8, 26, 28 and 36.