Lottery winner’s generous gesture turns into family feud

WHAT started as an apparently generous gesture from a former butcher who became a lottery millionaire has ignited a family feud which has ended up in the courts.

Now Clyde Baxter claims his sister, Virginia, cheated him out of a mansion at the Australian resort where they both live and has launched a court action against her in Queensland.

Mr Baxter, of Gold Coast city, Queensland, is suing her over the AUS$1.3m (€775,000) house bought in her name in 2000.

It was a year after he won £6.75 million (€9.88m) in Britain’s National Lottery.

Mr Baxter, formerly a butcher in Leicester, claims he bought the house with the intention of renovating and selling it, but that his sister says he gave it to her.

Mr Baxter told the court he gave her $500,000 of his windfall.

He also said he and his sister had planned to buy a house together in Australia in 2000. He said she talked him into buying the mansion in the exclusive Surfers’ Paradise neighbourhood, although he had preferred other properties.

The area is famed for its miles of sandy beaches. Those along with its high rise developments, gaudy shopping malls, tourist traps and brash, fun-loving inhabitants have long been a playground for winter sun-seekers and tourists. It is also a favourite home for Australia’s nouveau riches and the so-called ‘white shoe brigade’ — it is a prime location for the country’s property developers.

Mr Baxter testified the mansion was going to be in his name, but his sister told him he could not buy a property for renovation because of restrictions on foreign investment. He told the court that she said it would have to be bought in her name because she had a permanent residency visa.

He said he decided to sue his sister after she claimed in 2004 that the house, which she had renovated, was worth €3m and was hers.