'Mum's the word' for lottery winning dinner lady who kept windfall secret for five weeks

A dinner lady from Barnsley has collected a £1million lottery prize, after keeping it secret from her family for five weeks.

Paula Williamson waited until one of her sons, Jack, had returned from a trip to Australia before revealing her big news.

He said he didn't suspect anything was going on during his four week stint away. On realising the news after his mother was handed a cheque in a golden envelope.

Mrs Williamson admitted she managed to keep the secret as she "just tried not to think about it," and was adamant the family should celebrate the windfall together.

For the first week she and her husband were unaware she had won such a huge amount of money, keeping the ticket in her purse without checking it.

Her husband said: "It were only the week after when we were doing our shopping at Morrisons she had it checked that morning."

She says she isn't sure what she will do with the money but it's likely they'll trade their shared three bed semi in Barnsley for a new property.

The couple's two sons seemed rather pleased with their parent's offer to buy them their own homes and finally be able to move out of the family home.