AN unlucky lottery winner whose £30,000 prize was fraudulently cashed in by strangers might sue lottery operator Camelot.

A Swindon Crown Court judge ruled yesterday that 61-year-old Dorothy McDonagh from Moredon should receive the £15,000 of her winnings not spent by the couple.

She said she was “deeply offended” by Camelot’s behaviour and was considering legal action.

Mrs McDonagh, from Chantry Road, got the booby prize when her £30,000 winning ticket was found on the floor of a Moredon Co-Op in October by 34-year old mum Amanda Stacey.

Mrs Stacey and her husband Michael, 43, of Greenmeadow Avenue, had already spent half of Mrs McDonagh’s winnings on clearing their debts and buying treats for their children by the time the police caught up with them.

The remaining £15,000 was frozen in the Staceys’ bank account until yesterday’s hearing.

Judge Douglas Field ordered Mr Stacey to repay the £15,000 plus £111 of interest under the Proceeds of Crime Act. Mrs Stacey was ordered to make a nominal payment of £5.

Speaking outside Swindon Crown Court yesterday Mrs McDonagh, who suffers from a nervous condition, said: “It’s jolly decent of them all to let me have a half share of my win. I’m sure Camelot will be very pleased.

“The whole case has been so sloppily handled, unrealistic and farcical that I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had gone to the Staceys and co.

“It has gone on for nine months now and this is not the final episode.”

Mrs McDonagh said she had been advised not to say more on how she would pursue the matter with Camelot on legal grounds, but admitted she was considering launching a civil action.

She said: “I am both infuriated by their negligence and attitude.

“Who would have believed that winning the lottery could create so much hassle and for so long?”

The chain of events happened after Mrs McDonagh matched seven numbers on her £1 Daily Play game. After seeing her winning numbers on the TV she soon realised she had lost the ticket.

Because she still had the pay slip she was able to prove to Camelot that she was the rightful winner. But despite her alerting the lottery operator, the Staceys were still able to cash the cheque at the Post Office and received three cheques for £10,000.

At a hearing in April the couple were handed 11-month jail terms, suspended for two years after admitting fraud and theft, but the judge did not order them to repay the £15,000 they’d spent, saying it had been taken out of “dire financial need” rather than pure financial greed.