Lotto winner's pal who shared £22.5m jackpot pays tribute after losing touch
![Mark Gardiner (left) and former business partner Paul Maddison split the whopping A£22m jackpot in 1995 (Image: PA)](/upload/news/2023/12/13/136729.jpg)
The former business partner of a fellow Lotto winner who became a hermit before his death aged 73 has paid tribute - though says he 'lost touch years ago.
Eccentric Paul Maddison - who scooped half of a £22.5million jackpot in 1995 alongside friend and double glazing firm partner Mark Gardiner - is believed to have suffered a possible heart attack. He opted to live a quiet life, despite landing the fortune. Mr Gardiner said he lost touch with his pal around 20 years ago after he moved away and retire. The pair had run a business together in Hastings, East Sussex. He said he was "shocked and saddened" to hear of Mr Maddison's sudden death.
“He has gone too soon. He still had a huge amount to offer,” he said. Mr Gardiner explained his old business partner moved to Scotland to retire after the big win "to a different life". He went on: "He was a really nice guy and we got on well together.
“He could turn his hand to any job no matter how big or small and he was a lovely guy to work with. When we won the lottery he decided to retire. He's a bit older than me and he felt he'd done enough for Queen and country and wanted to try something different.
![Lotto winner's pal who shared £22.5m jackpot pays tribute after losing touch eiqrdiqkeiqinv](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/article31661015.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_top-news-stories-today.png)
“He moved up to Scotland to be near his sister and we lost touch but I still had a fondness for him as he was a good guy. It's a shame we lost touch but he'd moved on to a different life and just wanted to draw a line under it." Mr Gardiner, now 62, decided not to retire after sharing the lottery win and still runs Croft Glass in Hastings - the business he set up just a couple of years before he struck lucky.
![Woman was 'adamant' she would win top lottery prize - then pockets $200,000](/upload/news/2023/02/01/333_m.jpg)
He said: “I'm still working, pressing on and going out every day for surveys and suchlike. I love the business and we are now the largest window glazing firm in the whole area. I'm proud I decided to carry on with the business and build it up. I was too young to retire. I would have got bored.
![Lotto winner's pal who shared £22.5m jackpot pays tribute after losing touch](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article31667293.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_Mark-Gardiner-National-Lottery-winner.jpg)
“I'm shocked by Paul's death. It's really come out of the blue. He was too young to go. I'm sure he still had a huge amount to offer. We enjoyed some great laughs around the office and out on jobs together and I can't say a bad word about him. He was a friend as well as a colleague."
He said the pair would put £50 on the lottery each week using the same numbers every time. “We were very lucky," he said. “We won after playing it for just a few weeks. Even after we won, Paul's wife at the time said paying £50 a week had been awful waste of money which is hilarious. I'm quite shocked by the news to be honest. It is unexpected. He wasn't that old. It's a real shame.”
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