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Millionaire couple who pocketed £500k in cancelled property raffle put home back on the market for £3.25m
A MILLIONAIRE couple who sparked fury by pocketing £500,000 in a cancelled property raffle have put their home back on the market for £3.25million.
Sharon and Mark Beresford decided to raffle off their home with £25-a-pop tickets in 2018 after it failed to sell two years earlier.
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In total, £750,000-worth of tickets were sold - but the Beresfords then failed to hand over their luxury mansion in Ringwood, Hampshire, to the winner.
Instead they capped the 'consolation prize' at £110,070, which was handed to a Dorset mum - while the runner-up prize of a brand new £160,000 Aston Martin car never materialised.
Now the swanky home - which has seven reception rooms, its own cinema and a river view - is back on the market with a whopping price tag.
The couple quietly re-listed the address after claiming they hadn’t sold enough of the tickets to give away the six-bed home and their Aston DB11 V8.
When the raffle collapsed, the pair claimed their Win A Mega Home Ltd competition had set them back £640,000 in marketing, advertising, PR and legal costs.
But they held onto around £500,000 - after saying their fee was "just about higher than the minimum wage"
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The move sparked anger from those who had bought tickets, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) gave the pair a slap on the wrist after ruling they'd "misled" hopefuls.
The ASA found the Beresfords had stated they would give a “cash prize” if they failed to sell more than 170,000 tickets.
And they said the prize would be 75 percent of the money generated by sales, minus costs.
But after just 30,000 tickets sold before the raffle closed, winner Carina was given just 15 per cent of the £750k netted through ticket sales.
The ASA report stated: "We were concerned that it was not actually possible for prospective participants to know what the prize would be before buying a ticket.
"They could not know how likely it was that fewer than 170,000 tickets would be sold, how much would be generated from sales below that threshold or what the promotion costs would be."
However, after the collapse of the competition, Mr Beresford insisted he had done nothing wrong.
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He said: "Don't you think £110,000 is a substantial prize?
"The prize is as stated in the terms and conditions, after marketing costs.";
The Sun has attempted to contact Mr and Mrs Beresford for comment.
The couple built the glass and wood home 13 years ago with German firm Huf Haus for £485,000.
Agents Fine & Country say the property "is the perfect riverside idyll, offering privacy, serenity and calm".
The company adds: "Once the electric gates open and you are greeted by the grandeur of the property, there is an instant feeling of luxury."
The home features a top-of-the-range kitchen, balconies, dressing rooms and a main bathrooms with 'his and hers' sinks.
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On the lower ground floor is a games room with a snooker table and private cinema.
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The home, which sits in a riverside plot of around an acre, also boasts a garage with space for four cars and a deck overlooking the River Avon.
Avon Place sits in a riverside plot of approximately an acre within the private estate of Avon Castle.
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