Shoppers descend for lottery win

Each member of the syndicate will get just over £1,000

A spar shop in County Londonderry was besieged on Friday by shoppers looking for their share of a lottery win.

A 98-strong syndicate from Bellarena, outside Limavady, picked five balls plus the bonus winning them £96,869.

Brothers Harry and George Canning not only run the shop where the winning ticket was purchased, but they are also members of the syndicate.

"It's a marvellous bonus for everyone, people have been able to book holidays," said Harry.

The group, who play 98 lines each week, had wins on 28 other tickets boosting their winners pot by a further £2,147.

The syndicate has been going for six years and Harry said he go the "surprise of his life" when he checked the tickets on the shop terminal.

"We used to play Lucky Dips. Then one of the syndicate said he liked playing with numbers and worked out what he thought was a good spread of chances and luckily we've stayed with those numbers," he added.