£8.2m lottery winner cleared of historic rape and sex attacks
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Jury takes three hours to clear £8.2m Lotto winner, 69, of historic rape and sex attacks on two young girls in UK after court heard he was in GERMANY at the time
- Millionaire Edward Hughes-Jones was accused of offences dating back to 1980s
- Accusers claimed he attacked them as schoolgirls in Cornwall and North Wales
- But Hughes-Jones said the women were ‘lying’ and was allowed to walk free
A jury took three hours to clear a lottery millionaire of historic rape and sex attacks on two young girls in the UK after a court heard he was in Germany at the time.
Edward Hughes-Jones, 69, won an £8.2million jackpot in 1999 – but was accused of offences dating back to the 1980s.
The former engineer and builder was alleged to have left the schoolgirls, who were under 12 at the time, feeling ‘terrified’ and ‘disgusted’ after abusing them.
They claimed Hughes-Jones attacked them in Cornwall and North Wales but only came forward with their allegations in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
But Hughes-Jones, who told Mold Crown Court he had been working in Germany at the time of some of the allegations, said the women were ‘lying’ – before being allowed to walk free after a nine-day trial.
Edward Hughes-Jones was accused of offences dating back to the 1980s but walked free from Mold Crown Court, pictured, after a nine-day trial
Prosecutor Matthew Curtis said the first alleged victim was left fling ‘feeling dirty and terrified’ after Hughes-Jones abused her.
He said: ‘She did not tell anybody at the time and tried to forget it or blank it out.’
Mr Curtis said Hughes-Jones went on to assault a second girl after he moved from the South West to Conwy, North Wales.
He said: ‘She said she felt disgusted and felt sick.’
Mr Curtis said Hughes-Jones denied any wrongdoing and that the women ‘are making up lies against him’.
Asked whether he abused the girls Hughes-Jones told the court: ‘Absolutely not’.
Hughes-Jones told the court he won £8.2 million on the lottery in 1999 – five years after the National Lottery draw started.
The millionaire later retired to Guernsey and the court heard he still had more than £4million in the bank.
Mold Crown Court heard one of the girls complained to police in 2017 and an investigation was launched.
The second girl then complained in 2019.
Hughes-Jones, of St Martin, Guernsey, denied nine charges of indecent assault, indecency with a child and rape.
A jury of seven men and five women took just under than three hours to clear him.
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