A LUCKY lottery winner is to fulfil his wife's life-long dream and fly her back to her homeland.

Robert Townsend is to take wife Denise back to South Africa after scooping a £5,000 holiday on a lottery scratchcard.

Denise has always had an unfulfilled desire to return to her homeland which she left in 1976, aged seven, to emigrate to Blackburn with her family.

Now the win has provided the perfect opportunity for the couple and Denise's parents Terry and Phyllis Morris, who haven't been back in over 20 years, to return.

Denise, who was overjoyed with the win, said she is looking forward to returning to the white sand beaches she remembers as a child, seeing cousins she has never met before and seeing how much her home town of Pretoria has changed.

While Robert is hoping to go on safari when he is out there and see some real life big cats after he unveiled three suitcases in the lottery's £5,000 Holiday Bonanza.

Denise, 34, said: "I've always wanted to return but have never been able to until now. I think the town where I lived will be very different.

"My childhood home had a swimming pool and I'd climb the mountain at the back of my house with my sister Karen and brother Terry.

"The beaches were made up of white sand and I missed the weather when I first came to the UK.

"I remember being amazed the first time I saw snow. Karen thought someone was shaking soap powder from the sky!"

Robert, who lives in Blackburn and works as a glass inspector for LG Philips Displays, Blackburn Road, Simonstone, bought the card from the Lotto kiosk in the middle of Blackburn Shopping centre.

He won £6 on the first card and so returned for a second and won another £2. He then returned for a third and came up trumps with the top prize.

He said: "It was a complete shock, but I didn't shout out though. I smiled and was pretty chilled all in all.

"When I told Denise she was absolutely over the moon. She asked 'where are we going' and I joked 'you mean where am I going it was me who won it!' It will be really great to take her back to South Africa.

"She hasn't been since she left at seven and she's always wanted to go back. We'll visit Pretoria and Johannesburg where she still has family. "

South Africa has undergone major political upheaval since Denise, a purchase administrator with Akzo Nobel industrial coatings, Darwen, left in 1976.

The country's system of racial apartheid was ended in 1994 and the anniversary of liberation is celebrated every year as Freedom Day on April 27.