£113m jackpot finally finds a winner

London: When Britain's biggest lottery win went unclaimed for almost a fortnight, it was a chance for some punters to try their luck.

Organisers were inundated by people insisting they had matched the winning numbers, but lost their ticket. After the real winner stepped forward anonymously to collect the £113 million (Dh650.88 million) jackpot, it has emerged that more than 1,000 hopefuls contacted Camelot. Their excuses included accidentally throwing their ticket away and mistakenly putting it through the wash.

A pensioner from Coventry said she had matched all the numbers, but her husband had put the ticket in the bin and there were rumours on the city's university campus that a penniless first-year had won, but could not find the ticket.

Camelot confirmed on Thursday that the winner had come forward the day before and wished to remain anonymous. Its spokesman did not say where the ticket was bought or whether it was a single player or a syndicate.

The winner immediately became Britain's 589th wealthiest person, ahead of veteran rockers Rod Stewart and David Bowie.