A RETIRED bank manager known as ‘the lady in pink’ sparked a nationwide hunt after she scooped a jackpot on the Irish Lottery – but failed to claim her prize.

Carole Hoyle, of Blackburn, was on holiday in Llandudno before Christmas when she bought the winning ticket for £1.

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Days later the 53-year-old hit the jackpot of £40,000 but as she had returned home to Lancashire not realising she had come up a winner.

Betfred, where she bought the winner ticket, then launched a nationwide hunt to find the great-grandmother with wanted posters displayed in the company’s 1,500 shops.

Newspapers across the country published a description of Mrs Hoyle, released by the company after staff trawled through security cameras.

They discovered she had been wearing distinctive pink clothing and a matching backpack when she bought the ticket.

Bookie bosses believed ‘the lady in pink’ was a holidaymaker but received several calls saying she had been spotted cycling along the promenade at Llandudno.

Only later did Mrs Hoyle, who has eight grandchildren, find the ticket and take it to be cashed in at the Darwen branch after New Year.

Mrs Hoyle, who regularly visits her static caravan in Wales with husband Paul, said the bulk of the money would be used to pay off the renovation of a dilapidated farmhouse in Germany.

She said: “I feel absolutely ecstatic.

“I kept looking at the ticket when I was clearing things out of my purse and after I checked, I knew it was a winner.

“I usually use birthday numbers but my biggest previous haul in the lucky Llandudno shop was only £350.

“This time for whatever reason I picked random numbers and this happens.

“It is just a nice amount of money.

“In a funny sort of way it is better than winning £4million or a huge amount like that.

“We will be able to finish off the work on the farmhouse in Germany and I have already had my little shopping spree.

“This win could not have come at a better time, it is just a fantastic start to 2017.”

Mrs Hoyle and her husband Paul, who is a builder, bought the former pig and pen farm in Rhineland after they spotted it while touring around the country in their motorhome. She described it as their ‘dream project’.

She also hit the sales buying new shoes, coats and a handbag for herself and a jacket and boots for Paul.

For the past five years the keen cyclists, who have five children, have spent a lot of time at the caravan in Wales.

After being described as ‘the lady in pink, Mrs Hoyle said: “With all the publicity about the hunt to try to find me, I won’t be able to wear my Pink Aldi jacket when we’re cycling there anymore.

“I’m going to keep it though. Pink is my favourite colour and it brought me luck.

“I’ve always worked very hard in my life and this is just brilliant.”

She said her husband Paul had told her not to bother with the Wednesday draw which turned out to be the winner.

“He also wanted me to go to Germany just before Christmas,” she said.

“If we had gone to Germany to stay at the farmhouse I would not have been in Llandudno to put the bet on at all.

“I was right both times and he was wrong.”

Betfred owner Fred Done said: “What a marvellous start to the New Year for Carole and Paul.”