Lotto winner loses out on jackpot

The £7m ticket was bought in Belfast in August

One unlucky Northern Ireland punter has lost out on a lottery jackpot of over £7m.

The ticket, which was bought in Belfast for the Lotto Extra draw held on 7 August 2004, expired at 1730 GMT on Thursday.

The winner matched all six numbers; 3, 5, 8, 18, 28 and 48.

However, as they did not produce the winning ticket in time, the £7,039,469 jackpot becomes the biggest unclaimed prize in the history of the lottery.

Lottery organisers Camelot said more than £16.3m of prizes had still not been snapped up from 2004.

A Camelot spokesman said: "Unfortunately, I can confirm that nobody came forward with the winning ticket within the deadline to claim their prize.

"This money will now go to the Good Causes, adding to the £16 billion which, over the last 10 years, has funded the biggest programme of civic regeneration seen in the UK since the 19th Century.

"Players concerned about lost or unchecked tickets, may want to consider playing on the internet or by mobile phone in future. This way, they are informed of any wins electronically so will never miss out on a prize again."

In August, a Belfast woman who was undergoing treatment for cancer became the single biggest winner of the lottery since it began 10 years ago.

Iris Jeffrey, 58, bought the ticket on 14 July but only realised she had hit the jackpot in August after hearing an appeal by Camelot.

She scooped the biggest single National Lottery jackpot of £20.1m.

Former Belfast bus driver Peter Lavery won more than £10m in 1996.