Lotto winner Amanda Nuttall forfeits assets

Amanda Nuttall won more than £2.5m on the National Lottery in 2008

A millionaire Lotto winner has been ordered to hand over assets as part of a money laundering probe, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said.

The NCA said a combined £6m of assets were forfeited as part of an investigation into businessman Jonathan Nuttall.

Mr Nuttall, from Romsey, Hampshire, structured his wealth to be in the name of his wife Amanda, it was alleged.

Mrs Nuttall won more than £2.5m on the National Lottery in 2008.

The NCA said Mr Nuttall, 46, and his 45-year-old wife had shared a £2,000-a-week flat in Belgravia, London, and hired private jets for holidays in Cannes and Dubai.

The White Horse and Brasserie in Romsey was among 11 properties a court ordered to be forfeited, the NCA said

It said they also shopped at Harrods and built a swimming pool at their home in the countryside.

The White Horse Hotel and Brasserie in Romsey and a £100,000 Bentley were among the items seized, said the NCA.

London barrister Timothy Becker, 55, has also forfeited assets.

Andy Lewis, head of asset denial at the NCA, said: "Jonathan Nuttall amassed considerable wealth as a result of his and others' unlawful conduct.

"He is not himself a party to the claim. That is because he structured his business affairs so that he didn't hold any of the recoverable property himself, leaving everything in the name of his wife and others."

The NCA said Mr Nuttall's alleged illegal activities first came to light during another investigation involving convicted drug smuggler Amir Azam, from whom £4m of assets were recovered.