Lottery win marks 'insane' end to baker's year

A baker who scooped more than £800,000 on a lottery win has described it as an "insane" ending to a year in which she overcame cancer, helped her parents through major illnesses and fell pregnant.

Lauren Tomlinson, from Rotherham, won the prize after her postcode was selected to share £17.5m through the People's Postcode Lottery.

Ms Tomlinson, who was given the all clear from cancer earlier this year, has also supported her mum, Andrea, after her own cancer diagnosis, and her dad, Darren, who suffered a "massive stroke".

After promising to split the £836,114 prize with her parents, she said the win made her feel she could "save them for the rest of their life".

"It has just been insane," she said. "And to find out I'm having a baby when I didn't know I could have one, and now I've won the postcode lottery - you just can't write it."

The 33-year-old, who runs Tomo's Cakes with her mum from a converted shipping container in her garden, can spend up to 18 hours a day baking, but now has plans to open a shop in the town.

She said she had built the business so she could be at home with her parents and "try and heal" after losing her brother five years ago.

"I thought I'd be in my back garden for my life," she said.

"I love my job with all my heart, but now … I can see in my head what the shop is going to look like."

Three of her neighbours also landed £418,057 each, while 557 people living in the wider S65 3 postcode also landed prizes ranging from £24,266 to £97,064.

Ms Tomlinson, who is expecting her baby in June, said her first priority was to "get some Christmas back into the house".

"We work really hard to pay the bills and Christmas is a busy time for business," she said.

"Now I can actually go out and buy my parents presents."

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.