Former National Lottery winners lead search to find missing ticket holder days before they run out of time to claim £1m jackpot

By ROBERT FOLKER, NEWS REPORTER Published: 16:15, 30 April 2026 | Updated: 16:29, 30 April 2026 Former National Lottery winners have joined the search to find a missing ticket holder who is running out of time to claim their £1million jackpot. The lucky ticket was bought in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area for the EuroMillions draw on November 4, 2025. However, the owner of the ticket has not yet come forward, with the prize expiring at midnight on Sunday. Jamie and Danielle Heavens, previous National Lottery champions, are supporting the search for the missing winner, as they posed with a large mock-up of the unclaimed ticket on a Princess Y72 yacht in Poole. Mr Heavens won £1million on the lottery aged 22 while he was working as a roofer. He used the seven-figure sum to splash out on a new car, pay for a wedding to childhood sweetheart Danielle and start his own business. At first, Mr Heavens didn't believe he'd won as he was unable to phone the National Lottery to confirm as the phone lines had not yet opened.  Former National Lottery winners Jamie and Danielle Heavens are leading the search to find a missing ticket holder who is running out of time to claim a £1million jackpot The pair pose with a large mock-up of the unclaimed ticket on a Princess Y72 yacht in Poole, near to where the ticket was bought Instead, he decided to go into work, and ended up phoning the helpline when he was on top of a roof and had signal.  Even when it was confirmed, he said he was in disbelief over his winnings until the money landed in his account. Now, Mr Heavens and his wife are helping look for the owners of an unclaimed winning lottery ticket, so they don't miss out on a similar fortune. Winners of the National Lottery have 180 days from the day of the draw to claim their prize.  If the money is not claimed, it will be transferred to the National Lottery's Good Causes fund.  Last summer, similar panic arose after the biggest-ever EuroMillions jackpot of £208million remained unclaimed in the aftermath of the win. But eventually, the jackpot winner, from Ireland, came forward - after purchasing the ticket from a retail outlet in Co Cork. This historic Irish win surpassed the previous EuroMillions record of £195million, which was won by a UK ticket-holder in July 2022. The biggest unclaimed prize was from the EuroMillions draw on June 8, 2012. A ticket worth an incredible £63,837,543.60 had been bought by a player in the area of Stevenage and Hitchin, but was never claimed. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.