LOTTERY winner Matthew Topham was today cleared of causing a gran's death by dangerous driving in a Christmas Day crash.

Topham, 31, who scooped the £45 million EuroMillions jackpot in 2012, crashed after retrieving a teddy his two-year-old son dropped. 

The dad-of-two, from Swinderby, Lincolnshire, took his eyes off the road for a "split second" when he ploughed his BMW into Mary Rodney, 75, Lincoln Crown Court heard.    

He admitted causing death by careless driving just before his three-day trial.

But the jury this afternoon found him not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving after an hour of deliberations. 

The 75-year-old couldn't be saved and died from severe chest injuries following the smash on Christmas Day 2019, jurors were told.

Her husband Rodney, 78, suffered Rodney, 78, with a fractured ankle, ribs and sternum and cracked vertebrae.

He said his family had been in a holiday lodge before his wife had set off for home separately in her Volvo XC90 as two cars were needed to carry all of their children’s presents.

Topham said his eldest son, five, was strapped in a car seat. His youngest son, then aged two, strapped in a car seat behind the front passenger seat with his teddy and blanket on his lap.

Topham told the jury he took his left hand off the steering wheel and began searching in the rear footwell for the teddy while still keeping his eyes on the road.

He said: "Initially I put my hand back, and then turned my head to look at the child."

When he looked back at the road Topham said he just saw headlights in front of him.

He said: "I don't recall hitting the car, I just recall waking up to the airbag in my face, and my kids screaming."

Topham told the jury he checked his children were ok and then opened Mr Regler's drivers door.

He said: "I said to Mr Regler 'is everyone ok.' Mr Regler said 'I'm ok, but my wife isn't looking very good."

At that point Topham said he rang 999 for help.

Topham said the family had been stopping at a lodge at Tattershall Lakes over Christmas 2019 and went to a local pub for Christmas dinner.

After the lodge ran out of gas they decided to visit his wife's parents', at Rushmoor Country Park, near Louth, Lincolnshire.

He said: "I had a small glass of wine, it didn't have any effect at all."

Mr Topham told the court he left school at 16 and joined his father's painting and decorating business before his life was changed by the lottery win in 2012.

He said: "My wife placed a ticket on the Euromillions, we won £45 million."

The couple, who now have a third child aged just four months, also bought a £250,000 home in a 'normal street' – but have since moved.

He said: "The lottery win gave us the freedom to give people a step up in life."

Jurors acquitted him of causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving after deliberating for just over an hour.

The jury heard Topham had been driving for 12 years and had never previously been involved in an accident or got any points on his licence.

Topham told the jury he did attend one speed awareness course after he towed a trailer two miles an hour above the speed limit.

Under cross examination from prosecution barrister Michael Cranmer-Brown, Topham admitted his driving was careless.

Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight told Topham he had "the night to spend with your family" before adjourning sentence for causing death by careless driving until Thursday.

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