Window Cleaner Has Mortgage Paid For A Year

Pictured left to right: Rob Hassall from Hanley Economic Building Society, Gloria Wildsmith, Kathleen Harrington and winner Shaun Hewitt.

Window cleaner has mortgage paid for year after winning competition: Window cleaner Shaun Hewitt is over the moon after winning a competition to have his mortgage paid for a year. The 51-year-old wasn't expecting to hear anything back when he entered the competition, run jointly by The Sentinel and the Hanley Economic Building Society. So the father-of-three was lost for words when he was presented with a cheque for £4,000 at the newspaper's Etruria offices yesterday. Self-employed Shaun, who lives with his wife Beverley on Low Close, Fenpark, said: "I can't believe I have won to be honest. "I've won the odd £10 here and there on the lottery before, but never anything like this."

Shaun, who cleans windows in the Blythe Bridge area, was one of more than 1,000 readers and building society customers who entered the competition between February 9 and March 1. To enter, they had to collect 12 out of 19 tokens printed in The Sentinel with three lucky winners picked out at random. Former Royal Navy weapons specialist Shaun, who served on HMS Intrepid during the Falklands conflict, was celebrating with runners-up Kathleen Harrington and Gloria Wildsmith, who landed £2,000 each.

Shaun, whose son Dan won Stoke's Top Talent in 2008, said: "Times are hard for everyone at the minute and this money will make a massive difference to us. "We're going to use it to pay off some of our mortgage, which will free up a bit of money for us elsewhere. "I was just lost for words when I was told I had won the £4,000 top prize. "I don't think it will settle in properly for a couple of days."

The couple have around four years left to pay on their mortgage. Wife Beverley, a 46-year-old trainee social worker, said: "We can't thank the competition organisers enough for this money. It will be a big help to our family." Rob Hassall, head of business development at Hanley Economic Building Society, said: "This is the fourth time we have held the competition but this year's response has been the best so far. It's great to see the reaction of the winners, especially Mr Hewitt, who seemed genuinely delighted and grateful to have won the competition.

"Times are hard for a lot of people right now and I'm sure this money will go some way to giving the winners some time off from the financial pressure of life and give them the chance to treat themselves with a holiday or in some other way." Scott Smallwood, promotions manager at The Sentinel, said: "I'd like to thank our sponsors and everyone who entered the competition and made it such a great success."