EXCLUSIVE: Lottery winner’s boyfriend who was dumped after scooping £10k-a-month jackpot now fears she’ll take his DOGS away – and says THAT would hurt more than losing out on cash

• Kirk Stevens was dumped by his girlfriend Laura Hoyle after she won the lottery
• The engineer fears that she will take his two beloved cocker spaniels off him
• The former couple currently share joint custody of the dogs, after their split
• Mr Stevens has argued that should be given a share of the lottery winnings
• But the ticket was bought with Miss Hoyle’s account and she claimed the prize

An engineer who was dumped by his girlfriend after she won the lottery has told how he now fears she will take his beloved dogs off him too.

Laura Hoyle ditched her lover Kirk Stevens when she scooped £10,000-a-month for the next 30 years and moved into their £500,000 dream home alone.

Miss Hoyle, 40, was seen yesterday taking the former couple’s two cocker spaniels, Teddy and Barney, for a walk near her new home in Linby, Nottinghamshire, before handing them over to Kirk — as part of a joint custody arrangement.

But Mr Stevens says he is worried that she will fight him for sole custody of the dogs.

‘The only communication we have now is over the dogs,’ he said. ‘We both own them and are splitting time with them. I may not have any lotto money but at least I still have the boys.

Kirk Stevens was dumped by his girlfriend Laura Hoyle after she scooped £10,000-a-month for the next 30 years

‘These dogs mean the world to me, and for the time being we are co-sharing them. We’ve had them for over three years.

‘I hope she never takes them away from me, I couldn’t bear that. It hurts to lose the money we won together but it would hurt even more to lose the dogs.’

Last week Mr Stevens told how he and Miss Hoyle had won the jackpot in the National Lottery’s Set For Life draw — a total of £3.6million split over 30 years — in March last year.

Laura Hoyle was seen yesterday taking the former couple’s two cocker spaniels, Teddy and Barney, for a walk near her new home in Linby, Nottinghamshire

Mr Stevens said he met Miss Hoyle through a friend in 2018 and she then moved into his three-bedroom home in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire 

What is Set for Life?

Set For Life is a draw-based game from The National Lottery. 

You pick five main numbers from 1 to 47, and one ‘Life Ball’ from 1 to 10, for the chance to win fixed prizes.

The top prize is £10,000 a month for 30 years and the second prize is £10,000 a month for one year.

Players can also win £5 for matching two main numbers. 

The Set For Life game costs £1.50 per line and is drawn every Monday and Thursday.

After the life-changing win, Mr Stevens said he let Miss Hoyle live with him rent-free in his three-bedroom £240,000 house and they celebrated with a trip to Disneyland Paris.

She quit her job as a Hermes driver and they had planned to set up a ghost hunting business together — a shared passion of theirs.

But ten weeks ago, she decided to leave him.

She moved out of his place and moved into the dream five-bedroom home in the pretty village of Linby that they had chosen together.

Ironically, Mr Stevens says he even helped his ex move into the new home that he says they chose together and has never set foot inside since after she dumped him for a life of luxury without him.

He said: ‘I couldn’t make her stay when she said she didn’t want me so I helped her move out to help her out.

‘She took the bed from the spare room, wardrobes and some furniture she had bought and all of her clothes.

‘She got a removals van and I helped her get her stuff out. It was about 10 weeks ago and she moved straight onto the new house, which should have been ours together. 

The couple said they planned to set up a ghost hunting business with their cash prize – they had spent much of their time together making ghost hunt Youtube videos 

Mr Stevens helped his former partner move out of his home and into the luxury red brick home he thought they would share together, where she now stays by herself. He said he has been entirely cut off from the jackpot money  

‘I may not have any lotto money but at least I still have the boys,’  Mr Stevens said. Pictured, Ms Hoyle walking their dogs

Mr Stevens said: ‘I hope she never takes them away from me, I couldn’t bear that’. Pictured, Ms Hoyle walking their dogs

Mr Stevens admitted that their relationship ‘wasn’t perfect’ before the split. ‘There were a few problems towards the end but that’s the way it goes,’ he said. ‘But I feel hard done by about the house, why wouldn’t you?’

He argues he should be given a share of the winnings — but although the novelty publicity cheque had both of their names on it, the ticket was bought with Miss Hoyle’s account and she claimed the prize.

A Camelot spokesman that, despite both names upon the large cheque used for publicity, all Lottery wins are paid to an individual, even in a syndicate, and in this case the winning account was Laura’s.

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