Former lottery winner sentenced to community service

EuroMillions winner Ryan Magee also disqualified from driving for five years

Ryan Magee with his wife Margaret at the time of his win. His barrister said he is ‘not back at square one but several steps behind square one’. Photograph:  Paul Faith/PA Wire
Ryan Magee with his wife Margaret at the time of his win. His barrister said he is ‘not back at square one but several steps behind square one’. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA Wire

Ryan Magee, a multimillionaire lottery winner who splashed out almost £170,000 on a Ferrari sports car days after he won £6.4 million (€8.9 million) in the EuroMillions lottery seven years ago, was yesterday ordered to complete 200 hours of community service, disqualified from driving for five years and fined £250.

Magee (34) pleaded guilty at the Magistrate’s Court in Derry to driving a Ford Focus car along the city’s Foyle Bridge last year while disqualified and without insurance.

With his winnings Magee, from Monnaboy Road in Eglinton, bought the Ferrari 458 Italia and a house equipped with a champagne bar. The house is currently up for auction.

Magee’s legally-aided barrister Eoghan Devlin said the defendant’s life in recent years could be summed up by saying “every silver lining has a dark cloud. He has found himself not back at square one but several steps behind square one.”