Jobless man had date with £148m Euromillions winner - but he paid the bill

Gavin had no idea Gillian was a millionaire

A man who romanced £148 million Lotto winner Gillian Bayford has told how they had their first date at a carvery – and he paid the bill.
Jobless Gavin Innes and 46-year-old Gillian each had a pot of tea as they chatted, laughed and compared pictures of their respective kids.
The 45-year-old picked up the £3.78 tab and insists he had no idea she was super rich... even though she picked him up at his two-bed council house in a Porsche.
Gavin claims Gillian even pretended to be an office worker and only revealed her wealth on a second date weeks later, again over a cuppa.
They had agreed to meet up after exchanging flirty chat via Facebook.
After hitting it off Gavin says they even talked about marriage just nine weeks into their six-month romance.
But despite some good times it all ended in tears.
And Gavin claims Gillian is lonely and that her Euromillions jackpot win has not bought her happiness.
He says she seemed happier spending time scoffing cake at his humble home rather than going back to her mansion.
Gavin also claims mum-of-two Gillian – who wed ex-prisoner Brian Deans, 37, last month – is just desperate to be loved.
He says: “She was so lonely. You never meet a happy millionaire.
“She brought up marriage after about nine weeks and asked how I’d propose to her. I said I wanted to live together first.”
The unlikely couple were thrown together after both signing up to a l reunion group on social media for people who attended Harris Academy in Dundee.
Incredibly, Gavin says he did not realise she was the local lass who scooped the £148million Lotto jackpot with her first husband Adrian.
Gillian’s face has been plastered over the papers and on TV ever since the Euromillions win in 2012.
But as their relationship developed father-of-two Gavin says he witnessed Gillian splashing the cash.
He goes on: “She was throwing money at everybody.
“But she preferred to stay at my house. There were a few times I saw the real Gillian.
“Once we got up at 3am and sat eating chocolate cake, before going for a drive along the coast in our pyjamas.
“More of that would have been cool, just taking off. I could have fallen in love with that Gillian.
“Another time, we sat under a railway bridge taking pictures of fire spinners.
“She couldn’t believe how much fun she had, yet no one knew who she was. That was the best date we had.”
Gavin recalls their first date, too, at the Kingsway Farm carvery just off the A90 in Dundee.
And he addresses sceptics who wonder how he never knew about Gillian’s Lotto luck.
He says: “I don’t have a telly so I don’t watch the news.
“I didn’t recognise Gillian when we first met and I don’t remember her from being at school as she was in the year above.
“She said she worked in an office and moaned about how her boss was a pain in the a**e.
“But she came to pick me up for our first date in a Porsche – it was strange to see a car like that coming up my street, which is kind of rough.
“I thought it would be tacky to ask why she had a Porsche.
“I thought whatever she did, she must be good at it. I was just happy to be in a Porsche.
“But even after she told me, I still paid for things. I’m old fashioned, I guess.
“She wasn’t my usual type, physically, but I was attracted to her because she was charismatic and funny. We didn’t talk about money.
“We mainly talked about our kids. We had a cup of tea, which I paid for.”
Gavin says he and Gillian had begun a private conversation on Facebook after she expressed interest in a charity he wanted to launch to aid male victims of domestic abuse.
She used her real name but Gavin insists he still didn’t click that she was a lottery winner.
He says: “I was lonely, too. I just wanted some female company.” Gavin tells how Gillian revealed her fortune over another cuppa three weeks after the first date.
He says she whipped out her mobile phone to show him the famous shot of her and Adrian, 47, holding champagne flutes and their whopping £148million cheque.
Gavin says he thought the picture was a fake – because he had mocked up a photo where he was holding a winner’s cheque.
He recalls: “She told me she had something to tell me and showed me the picture of her and Adrian. I asked if she’d Photoshopped it.
“I’d Photoshopped a similar one of me ‘winning’ the lottery.
“She kind of looked offended and said, ‘No, I won it’.
“My first question was: ‘How do you trust anyone?’ She said: ‘You just have to be careful’.
“I assumed that’s the reason why she didn’t tell me at first.” As the romance developed, Gavin says that Gillian tried to help him get off unemployment benefit.
He explains: “She hated me being on benefits so she told me to come off them.
“I was nervous because I’d relied on them for years.
“I was offered two or three jobs, but she told me to turn them down.”
Gavin claims he tried to play peacemaker between Gillian and her estranged family – dad Ian McCulloch, 71, mum Brenda, 68, and brother Colin, 43.
They were living in a caravan park when Gillian hit the jackpot.
At the time Ian said of his daughter: “Money won’t change Gillian. She’s just a lovely girl, a gem.”
But the family later claimed Gillian turned her back on them.
In response, Gillian has said: “It’s upsetting and raw. The money was supposed to make everybody happy.
“But it’s made them demanding and greedy.
“They’ve been given money and houses and cars but still wanted more.”
Gavin says he only found out his relationship with Gillian was over Gavin when a reporter came to his door.
He believes one of the reasons the romance turned sour was because he tried to get her to heal her family rift.
Gavin says: “She never talked about her parents, she avoided any conversation about them.
“I just didn’t get it, I offered to come with her to mediate – but she didn’t want any help.”
Gavin has faced accusations of being a gold digger. He insists he puts “morals over money” and was not with Gillian for her fortune. Gillian’s chaotic love life has never been far from the headlines since winning the Euromillions pot.
On the day she and Adrian picked up their cheque they posed for pictures and were clearly over the moon.
But they split up just 15 months after the jackpot win, publicly blaming the stress of the windfall for their divorce.
She has since had a string of unsuccessful relationships and public break-ups, leading some to believe she has fallen foul of the “curse of the lottery”.
A romance with car dealer Alan Warnock, 47, saw her buy a fleet of luxury Audis from him.
They got engaged, but broke up last year – and that’s when Gillian sought comfort in the arms of down-to-earth Gavin.
But their union ended abruptly last November, shortly before Gillian struck up a romance with fraudster Deans, who had served time for a £13,000 con when he worked at Tesco.
And despite Gillian finding love again, Gavin doubts whether she will ever be truly happy.
He adds: “I read about her wedding in the papers. She looked nice. I wish her well, but I wish I’d never met her.”
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