LOTTERY winner Julianne Peel would have missed out on her £800,000 windfall if it hadn't been for the kindness of her boss.

Julianne, 35, was one of nine workmates from Europower Hydraulics in Market Weighton, to share a £7,190,550 million win on the lottery. But she almost missed out on her share of the cash as she was off sick when the group picked their lucky numbers.

Her boss, Pauline Claxton, put her pound in for her, leading Julianne to dub her the "best boss in Britain".

Julianne said: "If they hadn't told me about it, they would all be millionaires by now." She plans to spend some of the money on new tattoos.

But Julianne's boss, Pauline, said that including her on the winning ticket was the least they could do. "She would have done the same for me if I hadn't been there," she said.

Julianne now has to decide whether to keep her sales job at Europower and her part-time job at Southgate Fisheries, in Market Weighton. But she says she definitely plans to go into work on Monday.

The cash will also help her to feed the menagerie of rescued animals that she looks after at her Market Weighton home.

Updated: 09:24 Saturday, March 06, 2004