Sheriff Offers £3m lotto Winner Eight Months To Pay Fine
21 Oct 2006

A millionaire lottery winner was given the chance to pay up a £400 driving fine at just £50 a month.

Walter Cross was in a family butcher shop syndicate who scooped £20million in a double rollover draw in 2000.

But yesterday, when the 52-year-old pleaded guilty to motoring offences, Sheriff Nikola Stewart said she would give him eight months to pay the fine.

Cross admitted at Lanark Sheriff Court to driving without due care and attention after overtaking a police vehicle and going through a red light at a notorious junction in the town.

When he said he could pay the money much quicker, the sheriff said she would give him 28 days to pay up.

She also endorsed his licence with seven penalty points.

Despite his wealth, Cross, of Coalburn, Lanarkshire, also took the unusual step of not paying for a lawyer to speak on his behalf and instead represented himself.

The court heard he was spotted by police just after 9pm on April 20 driving towards Hyndford Bridge in Lanark.

He was stopped after he overtook a stationary police vehicle at a red light and drove over the bridge in the wrong lane.

Cross took £3.3million as his share of the jackpot won by the syndicate from Robert Perrie's butcher shop in Lesmahagow - still Scotland's biggest lottery win.