Stephen Lakey wins with Win a London Pad

Stephen Lakey, a 37-year old IT project manager, has been declared the first winner in the Win a London Pad property prize competitions. Mr Lakey purchased two £50 tickets last month, to win a £400,000 Central London apartment.

Commenting on his good fortune, Mr Lakey proclaimed, "It's life-changing. I can't wait to move to the city - it's the first time I will have lived away from home... I bought two tickets last month for the hell of it when I saw some of the money was going to such a good cause. I thought nothing more of it until I received a phone call telling me I'd won... I was speechless. It's a very luxurious flat. I'm going to live in it at first and then maybe rent it or sell it later on. It's the best £100 I ever spent."

This is encouraging news after seeing so many house raffles and competitions run into difficulty over the year. For anyone who missed out, there are still another 10 flats in Whitechapel up for grabs.  In the process, Win a London Pad hopes to raise up to £600,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital charity, by setting aside £3 for each ticket sold. The money will be used to contribute towards a four-bed cardiac ward in the hospital’s heart and lung centre, planned to open in 2012.