A BINGO winner's joy quickly turned sour when her boyfriend demanded half the £53,600 prize. But yesterday Susan Heyes, of Meadow Walk, Farnworth wept tears of relief after convincing a judge he had no right to the cash. Former boyfriend Kevin Sherlock, 48, told Liverpool Crown Court he lived happily with the divorcee at her home on Plodder Lane, Farnworth, for six years.

He claimed they planned to marry and had an agreement to share any big bingo win.

But Mrs Heyes, 49, painted a different picture of their relationship and said she lived in fear of her domineering boyfriend.

After the victory Mrs Heyes wept as she told how she had fallen in love with Wirral man Mr Sherlock when he was working on the demolition of the former Kearsley power station.

But she discovered he led a double life. She said: "He is a very jealous man and when he was around he would not let me go anywhere by myself. "I later found out he had been splitting his time between me and another woman in the Wirral who has since had his baby but no longer sees him.

"I loved him very much but he just used me to provide a ready-made home. I am so relieved that the judge saw I was telling the truth."

Mrs Heyes, who has a 17-year-old daughter and three foster children, told Judge David Lynch it was a "godsend" when she won the cash at the Top Rank, Bolton in June 1992 because it would allow her to escape the tempestuous relationship.

After the win Mrs Heyes obtained an injunction banning him from her home.

Mr Sherlock, 48, had claimed the couple had kissed, cuddled and jumped for joy after the win and within hours put a deposit on a £51,000 house together and bought £700 worth of clothes for a proposed market stall.

Mrs Heyes denied this and her barrister described his claim as "opportunistic".

Afterwards Mrs Heyes said: "I made the biggest mistake of my life. I lost the house I lived in for 14 years and, if the judge had believed him, I would have lost this one too.

"I will never get into a relationship ever again. I stay in seven nights a week but I am very content now."

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