They're in the money...Mega-rich lotto couple Diane and Kevin Downing are celebrating a mammoth lottery windfall. But, as DAN JONES and KEITH FAIRBANK report, even their riches are dwarfed by a selection of super-rich Tykes.

THEY had no savings and were used to living off a pension worth a meagre £125 a week.

Now the lives of elderly Acomb couple Diane and Kevin Downing have been transformed beyond all recognition.

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Evening Press, Diane is celebrating after scooping York's biggest lottery win of nearly £4 million.

Just the interest from the massive jackpot win will rake in more than £3,500 each week.

Down-to-earth Diane, 60, admitted she celebrated in true Yorkshire style... by making a cup of tea.

Instead of exotic holidays to far-flung islands, the former Terry's worker has already got her sights set on a week in Scarborough.

The overnight multi-millionaires say they will help their two sons pay of mortgages, buy bike fan Kevin a gleaming new Harley Davidson and upgrade their two-bed bungalow in west York to a luxury home, maybe on the North York Moors.

But the couple, who have been married 42 years, insist they will not get carried away and spend, spend, spend their new found riches, or desert their White Rose roots.

"We're not going to move away from Yorkshire," said retired bank messenger Kevin, 62. "A tree grows best in its own soil."

"I don't think we are the type of people who will go out and waste it," added Diane. "We're going to carry on as normal but in a little bit of luxury.

"I'd like a bigger house so that when the family comes they can have beds to themselves and not sleep on the couch." Explaining the decision to holiday on the East Coast with millions in the bank, she said the family spent a lot of time in Scarborough when the children were younger, staying in youth hostels.

"If you go to the Bahamas everything looks the same," she added. "But the Yorkshire coastline to me is just something spectacular."

Diane also revealed how her husband never bought a lottery ticket and said his wife was "wasting her money" with her regular twice weekly purchases.

When she realised she had the winning ticket, she "just cried".

Diane, who walks with the help of a stick, added: "It's not something I've ever even dreamed about before." The couple admitted they were looking for a smaller house before their gigantic slice of good fortune. "We're now looking for somewhere slightly larger," chuckled Kevin who said his new Harley would let him "grow old disgracefully".

The Downings' riches may seem pretty good to most readers.

But it pales into insignificance when compared to the region's richest residents.

The Sunday Times Rich List 2005, published tomorrow, requires a minimum £50 million fortune, and reveals the family behind the York-based Shepherd Building group to be the real big winners.

Soaring profits have propelled the Shepherd family up to seventh in the list of Yorkshire's richest, with a combined wealth of £265 million. Up from £180 million last year, this 50 per cent rise comes on the back of 2003-04 profits of £30.3m from sales of £603.4m.

Sir Ken Morrison, who lives near Boroughbridge, comes second in the Yorkshire list with £1,100 million.

KEITH FAIRBANK spoke to York residents to see how they would celebrate a big Lottery win

Richard Lewis, 69, from The Groves, York, said: "If I won £4m, first I'd buy my children and grandchildren some nice things, then I'd get myself a girlfriend and buy a car for her to drive me around in."

Jonathan Gill, 17, from Crockey Hill, York, said: "I'm involved in Kidzone, a charity here in York, so I'd buy a few minibuses to bring deprived children from places outside the city into York."

Gill Baldwin, 59, from Fulford, York, said: "I'd buy my four children houses. Two have mortgages, so I'd pay those off and buy homes for the other two. I'd give a million to charity and book a holiday for the whole family."

Updated: 10:09 Saturday, April 02, 2005