From paying people to be his mates to being dumped multiple times, it seems Britain's 512th richest man has never been more lonely
WITH millions in the bank, most people would consider Adrian Bayford to be a very lucky man.
But since his £148million EuroMillions win in 2012, the former postman has struggled with problems money simply cannot solve.
Adrian Bayford has taken to scoffing up to seven £1.50 pasties a day after having them delivered from a firm in Cornwall and is unhappy with his lot, locals claim
Unlucky in love, he has fallen out with friends and piled on weight as he sits alone in his vast mansion. As The Sun revealed this week, Adrian has taken to scoffing up to seven £1.50 pasties a day after having them delivered from a firm in Cornwall — because they remind him of his childhood spent in the town of St Just.
When he does venture out of the £8.5million house in Haverhill, Suffolk, strangers taunt him or goad him about how little he gives to local good causes. His loneliness has become so chronic that he has taken to paying people to be his mates.
One, Billy, has recently become his “full-time boxing trainer” as the 48-year-old embarks on yet another bid to shift the pounds. Others take money off him to act as taxi drivers, since Adrian never passed his test.
A couple of years ago he paid £375,000 for The Rose and Crown pub in a nearby village, but promptly fell out with bar staff and locals and now barely sets foot in it — although he still owns it. But it is his love life that gives him the greatest sense of isolation.
Just 15 months after Adrian’s jackpot win, wife Gillian, 46, divorced him. She said their eight-year marriage had broken down “irretrievably”, and moved to Scotland with their two kids.
Since then, Adrian has been dumped three times, leaving his ego bruised and his bank balance dented.
One of his lovers, stable girl Samantha Burbidge, 31, rejected his proposal to return to her penniless ex-boyfriend - with nearly £500,000 worth of gifts that Adrian lavished on her.
“It’s hard for him. It’s a very unusual situation to be in. He got lucky. That’s all he did. Now he’s got all this unwanted attention.
Richard Hudspith, close pal
There was also Marta Jarosz, 35, a former sausage factory worker, who received a £34,000 top-of-the-range Volvo V40 hatchback before breaking up with him.
Then came Lisa Kemp, a 40-year-old waitress who broke his heart when she dumped him while they were on holiday last summer.
Now he is said to have his eye on another local girl, who friends say is robustly keeping his advances at bay.
But those who know him best claim it is because he won so much money that he is alone and so unhappy.
Closest pal Richard Hudspith, who used to run Adrian’s record shop, the Suffolk Music Centre, said: “It’s hard for him. It’s a very unusual situation to be in. He got lucky. That’s all he did. Now he’s got all this unwanted attention.”
The winning ticket made him the 516th richest person in Britain, with a fortune to rival Eric Clapton and Sir Tom Jones.
Prior to this, Gill worked as a hospital cleaner while making extra cash touring boot sales and trying to sell goods over eBay.
Their debts were spiralling and bailiffs are understood to have paid at least one visit to their home. But after the win, the real vultures descended. Within a few months, Adrian was forced to close his beloved record store as he was inundated with people asking for handouts. Even now, nearly seven years on, his neighbours regard him as a celebrity in their midst.
A barman told us: “People think it’s funny to go up to him when he’s having a pint and ask why he’s not buying champagne. They try to pick a fight and it works.”
Best friend Richard, who has always stuck by him, added: “He’s not very forthcoming and he’s often rude but I don’t blame him. In his mind nothing he does is newsworthy or of any interest. He has the same opinion as I do — that his life is not anyone’s business and that there are more important things going on.
“He just wants to live a quiet life now. The only thing he can do is withdraw and disassociate himself, not necessarily from the outside world, but try to not encourage any interest.”
Six foot four, bald and morbidly obese, Adrian finds it hard to keep a low profile when he is out and about. His weight is a particularly touchy subject.
People who slate me that don’t even know me really don’t have any idea who I am or what I do for people.”
Adrian Bayford
Richard said: “Every story you hear told about him starts with ‘chubby Adrian’ or ‘portly Adrian’. That would wind anyone up.”
Adrian was pictured in 2017 at the Cambridge Rock Festival, which he hosted on his back lawn to save it from being cancelled. Last year he was spotted enjoying himself at an Oktoberfest event in Cambridge. There, on a pick-me-up after his most recent break-up from Lisa, he sank lager and partied with Bavarian barmaids.
Despite enjoying the trappings of his enormous wealth over the years, Adrian is now keener than ever to hark back to the life he had before the win.
Besides devouring the Cornish pasties of his childhood, he has swapped expensive holidays abroad for lads’ nights out in bargain resort Great Yarmouth. He was seen there last summer buying rounds of £1 shots and pints for £2.50 for his companions.
One Christmas he bought a load of pine trees and sold them for just a tenner each on his estate, personally loading them into customers’ car boots. However hard he tries to escape the stigma of his money, it follows him everywhere.
He has fallen out with friends — allegedly including the director of the festival he hosted in 2017 and last year — and feels increasingly harangued by the residents of the 38 houses he rents out. Tenants apparently see him as a loaded landlord who should pay for everything simply because he can.
The tricky situation has led to some embarrassing public spats. In 2016, disabled Kym Mills said he was evicting her because she was struggling to afford a £250 increase in rent and that his millions had ruined their long friendship.
He responded with a meltdown on social media, writing: “People who slate me that don’t even know me really don’t have any idea who I am or what I do for people.” His feelings hurt, Adrian then raged that 45 families were in employment “for life” thanks to him.
He went on: “People who go to the papers about me better be ready for what the papers will find out about them. Let the war begin. Yes, I’ve been fortunate. I try and help as many as I can, but I don’t want two bad pennies spoiling my life. Sadly they are trying. Sadly for them I don’t take no s**t. All’s fair in love and war.”
But the reality is that very little in his life feels fair to Adrian. Ex-wife Gillian has remarried and transformed herself. She is now slimmer and sports long blonde locks and perfect make-up. She has built a property empire around her native Dundee.
After their break-up, Adrian said: “When you win the Lottery it’s so stressful.” Little did he know quite how much.
-A previous version of this article included a picture of Pat and Roger Griffiths, who won the lottery in 2004, instead of Roger and Lara Griffiths, who won the lottery the following year. The picture has now been removed.
