'I haven't gone wild with the money' (From Witney Gazette)

'I haven't gone wild with the money'

9:00am Wednesday 13th September 2006 in Witney By Samantha Simpson

A YEAR after she won the jackpot, Lottery millionaire Charmaine Collins has struck gold again - after falling pregnant with her second child.

The 26-year-old from Eynsham, who won £2.3m last August, after her grandparents bought her a winning ticket, is due to give birth two days after Christmas.

Miss Collins, who has a two-year-old son, Ryan, from a previous relationship, fell pregnant in March, seven months after she and boyfriend Robbie Watson got together.

The couple both grew up in Eynsham, and have known each other for about ten years, but love started to blossom only two weeks before Miss Collins' jackpot win.

They told the Gazette they were 'over the moon' at the prospect of having a baby together, and said they wanted to set the record straight about false rumours portraying Mr Watson, 35, as a 'money grabber'.

Miss Collins said: "People have been saying that Robbie's only doing it for the money, but that's not the case at all.

"We got back in contact last June, and got together about two weeks before I won the Lottery.

"And when that happened, we purposely kept things secret, because we didn't want people to think he's a money grabber.

"Robbie only agreed to start telling people if we had a pre-nup saying he didn't have anything to do with the house or money, so that's what we did.

"Then I fell pregnant, and we're both really happy - we're just like any other couple."

The couple know the sex of their unborn child, but wanted to keep it under wraps.

As they sat at Eynsham's Red Lion pub with family and friends, including Miss Collins' mum Dawn and Mr Watson's parents, Geoff and Bronwen, they talked about long-term plans for their future together, but said they did not yet have any plans to marry.

Mr Watson, who attended the same secondary school as Miss Collins, Bartholomew in Eynsham, said he was still happily working full-time as a carpenter.

He said: "I'm over-the-moon about the baby, everything is fantastic and we're very pleased about it."

It will be Mr Watson's first child, but he has been getting in some practice helping look after little Ryan.

Miss Collins said: "I haven't gone wild with the money.

"The most important thing for me is a secure future for the kids."