Lottery winner Matt Topham’s estranged mum opens her heart to the Sun
WHEN MATT Topham and his lover Cassey Carrington won $£45m on the lottery the tabloids set about looking for misery to inject into his happy, happy life. Matt Topham, last seen in Stapleford, Notts (he can’t still be there, can he?) is just 22. He’s the subject of the Sun’s front-page screamer:
“£45 lotto winner bands mum from his life”
But the ban is not woking all that well because Matt forgot to stop mum Julie, 49, from talking to the tabloid. She talked to the Sun back in February. The Mail quoted her:
“I hope they are as happy together after the win as they were before it.”
We learnt:
Julie’s own mother, Betty Gordon, 84, said her daughter was ‘selfish’, adding that she would never see any of Matt’s new fortune. Mrs Gordon told The Sun: “Matt wanted to live with his dad and Julie just stopped speaking to him. She hasn’t spoken to me or her sister for six years She just cut herself off from the family. Julie has hurt my grandson too much. If she thinks she’s getting anything out of this she’s mistaken.’
In a further twist, Brian and Stepheny Topham now live only five doors down from the home of Mrs Gamble and her husband Jason in Stapleford.
Today, those five doors have become seven doors. Mother and son seem to be moving apart in small steps.
Across pages 4 and 5 of the Sun, Julie tells her story. She holds aloft a photo of her boy when he was a lad with a Mr Logic haircut and pocket money burning a hole in his shorts:
Anguish … Julie holds a photo of £45m Euromillions winner Matt Topham aged ten
It goes on:
EUROMILLIONS winner Matt Topham has banned his mum from his life — and warned she will never meet his future kids.
Lumme! £45m buys a lot of gates and boarding school.
Heartbroken Julie, 49, wrote a letter attempting to heal their seven-year rift after the decorator and his fiancee scooped a £45million prize.
Is he still a decorator? If he is, is he doing it for love? Is he one of those sad sacks who stick to his job no matter what the gilded alternatives?
But Matt, 22, of Stapleford, Notts, flatly rejected her final attempt to patch up their bitter feud.
Matt… It’s your mum, you banker-loving twa…
Julie wrote Matt a loving three-page letter after he landed the jackpot in a draw last month.
Three pages, Matt. Have a heart, you rich basta……
She wished him happiness, but was shocked when he sent a curt note banning her from his life and saying she would never meet his future kids.
Over three pages she wished you happiness, Matt. And you just replied with a note, probably written by your butler.
Julie, who insists she wants none of her lad’s new-found fortune, said: “Whatever Matt says I will always love him as a son. But as far as he is concerned I don’t exist. He made it clear he never wanted to hear from me again and said if he has children then I won’t see them. He said he doesn’t want me in his life, or his fiancee Cassey’s — nor their future children. His letter reads as though he hates me. But how can he hate me when he doesn’t even know me any more?”
Helpfully, Matt can read about his mum in the Sun. He can cut out the big photo of her and stick it into his big wallet.
Office worker Julie lives seven doors down from the house where Matt chose to stay with dad Brian after his parents’ marriage broke up.
And we’re off.
If Julie is looking for a new son, she could do worse than adopt Steven, the son to Angela Dawes and Dave Dawes, who won £101m on the Euromillions. Angela’s “bitter son”, 17-year-old Steven Leeman, of Wisbech, Cambs, told the Sun:
“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a mum.”
Julie meet Steven.
Julie “typed her heartfelt letter, begging him to tell her why he had refused to see her for nearly a decade and had shut her out of his life from the age of 15”.
Hold on a mo. Matt Topham fell out with his mum years ago. He’s not a rich sod who ditched his nearest and dearest when pennies fell from heaven.
Julie, who lives with her two other children aged 14 and 19 plus second husband Jason Gamble, wrote…
Julie’s showing us the letter. She cares. She wants Matt to see it again, to re-read the words:
“Dear Matthew, I have waited seven years to see you, my son, to no avail. Every year there were Christmas cards and presents waiting for you and every year you chose not to come to see me. You need to realise that I wanted a relationship with my eldest son way before your good fortune.”
Why mention the money?
“However, now this has happened, I doubt there will be any way forward for us.”
The money. Curse the money.
“I have sat here many nights in tears at the thought of losing you. You made that decision to stay with your father all those years ago and I respected that. To make life easier on all three children, I bought a house a few doors away so they could visit their father and you could visit your mother.”
She made the investment. She put her money on love. And love lost.
“Does that sound like the act of a selfish person to you? I suppose the only real shame is that neither of us shared what a mother and son should have.”
Cuddles? Lunch? A jackpot win?
“..If you truly believe there is no way forward for us then please at least have the decency to tell me why? That is all I have wanted in the last seven years.”
The Sun might be Julie’s last chance of rapproachment. So. what did Matt say in reply?
“It was addressed just to Julie, not Mum. I asked Jason to open it and he showed me where Matt had torn off the bottom of my last A4 page and crossed out the word ‘Mum’.”
But he didn’t type it. It’s handwritten. There’s hope, Julie.
She told how multi-millionaire Matt had scribbled out a 12-line note in which he accused her of mistreating other family members and of forcing HIM out of HER life.
Twelve handwritten lines, Julie. As we say, hope.
“I decided to write to Matt and only mentioned his good fortune in passing. I have no interest in any of his millions — I don’t want his money, I would just love to get my son back.”
That’s three mentions of his cash in one sentence. Her position is clear. The money has nothing to do with it. Thrice.
The Sun cathes up with Matt at his dad Brian’s house. Says he:
“I have no comment. You will have to go through Camelot.”
Camelot are the lottery organisers. It looks very much like Julie’s best chance of seeing her son is to win the lottery and meet him at Camelot. Fingers crossed, Julie…
Posted: 5th, March 2012 | In: Reviews Comments (11) | TrackBack | Permalink
