THE GORSLEY MAN whose house raffle received widespread coverage in local and national media last year has declared a winner on the competition's website.

On or shortly before January 18th, 66-year-old businessman Mel Yates named Stefanie Gracie, of Málaga, in Spain, as the winner of the £11,000 cash prize.

Mr Yates, who launched his competition last spring, initially offered his large Gorsley house, which he said was worth £700,000, as the prize – and even promised to throw in his Mercedes estate car as a bonus for the lucky winner.

But in an unexpected announcement last November, he brought the competition to an early close, and blamed his bank and the Charity Commission for 'decimating' ticket sales. The house and car were to be replaced with £11,000 in cash, and ticket holders were told they had to send a 25-word caption explaining why they ought to win.

Ms Gracie's winning caption, published on the competition's website, ran as follows: "Lara, just been recognised with 77% disability. Will not see any money before May 2012. Need money NOW/urgently! New splints for her legs" – and the fact that it comes in at just 24 words is likely to further infuriate ticket holders who contacted this newspaper to complain about the change of prize.

Still more questions are certain to be asked about the amount of money Mr Yates is donating to the two charities he said were his main reason for launching the raffle in the first place. See rest of report in this week's Ross Gazette