A MUM-OF-ONE who scooped a £1 million lottery prize believes it was a gift from her late mother.

Shoreham resident Lizbet Ramus’ mother Lavender died from an aneurysm earlier this year.

But just months later the shocked 55-year-old won The National Lottery’s UK Millionaire Maker.

She said: “Not a day goes by when I don’t miss her.

“She was such a thoughtful person and an amazing mum so I can’t help thinking, this is her spreading a little Christmas magic at a time when I really needed it.”

Lizbet bought a few tickets in the run up to Christmas and stored them in her purse, which had previously been used by her mother.

But she did not think any further about the valuable scraps of paper until Boxing Day.

She said: “While it was our first Christmas without mum, we did our best and had a lovely big family feast at my brother’s, she would have been so happy for us all.

“The following morning, Boxing Day, I was sitting in the kitchen with my coffee, and I’ll admit I was feeling a bit down.

“Remembering my lottery tickets, I thought maybe I’d had some luck there, not for a second expecting £1,000,000 worth of luck.

“I was chuffed when the first ticket won a Lucky Dip, feeling a little more upbeat I scanned the second and all these noughts appeared, I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

She quickly called her brother and asked him to double-check the numbers.

Five minutes later he was on her doorstep and, after a quick once over of the digits, the pair found themselves jubilantly dancing round Lizbet’s kitchen.

She then rang her 27-year-old son Reggie to tell him the good news.

Lizbet said: “There’s no two ways about this, this win will change my life forever. I’ll never have to worry about big bills or whether I can afford to pay for something.

“I can buy my absolute dream home, a tiny little seafront cottage in Shoreham for me and the dog.

“I’m definitely going to carry on at work but I will take some time off to travel. I’ve got a close friend in Hong Kong and another in Portugal so I’ll be jetting off to one or the other - possibly both - in the not too distant future.”