5 Years After Couple Wins The Lottery, They Asked The Police To Destroy Their Home

An Empty Mansion

In the 2012 Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, the opulent building was used as Wayne Manor just seven years ago. The mansion stands vacant now. The only things that scuttle through the dwindling hallways are the vermin and inexperienced ghost hunters with rotting and graffitied walls. The Rainbow House has become a dark shell for ghosts. What happened there?

A Couple From England

Matt Topham and Cassey Carrington were an ordinary couple from Staplewood, England. While the pair were deeply and madly in love, nothing exciting ever really happened in their lives. So they never imagined what a twisted road they were heading down when these two high school sweethearts joined the Euro Lottery.

All Luck

At just 23 years of age, the young couple had just found their feet in adulthood. Matt worked as a painter and decorator, and Cassey worked at her local store as a supervisor. In their one-bedroom apartment, the two were more than content with their lives. Casey and Matt didn’t buy lottery tickets every week, but they wanted to try their luck when they saw that the jackpot was sitting at $60 million. And surprisingly, they won!

Living A Modest Life

Matt and Cassey were remarkably humble and generous with their winnings in the beginning. A simple wedding for themselves, then new vehicles, was their first priority. In the same area where they were staying, they moved out of their apartment and purchased an average-sized house. The young couple felt that they had fixed all their issues. But they had no idea that this was the beginning of a completely unthinkable thing.

A Generous Couple

The Tophams went on a couple of holidays and showered their mates with presents. Most importantly, to help him and his parents get out of debt, they gave one of their close friends $1.7 million. A source told The Sun at the time, “It’s a fantastic gesture and proves [that they] don’t intend to leave their friends behind.” However, it wasn’t long until the pair wanted to upgrade… and made a major mistake.

The Historic Rainbow House

In Nottingham, the historic Rainbow House is located on the grounds of Wollaton Hall. The house is accessed by Adams Hill, locally known as ‘Millionaires’ Row, ‘which runs parallel to the A52 Derby Lane. It is also known for its role in the 2012 Batman film The Dark Knight Rises. The mansion was everything Matt was searching for. This seven-bedroom mansion will be a dream come true for many individuals. But that was just the start of a horrible nightmare for Matt and Cassey.

It Was A Heritage Home

The Rainbow House mansion, built in the 1930s, was an art deco heritage home. For a cool $1.6 million, the young couple purchased it. Matt innocently explained to the Daily Mail, “I have often painted these huge houses and wondered what it would be like to live in one. Now I can find out.” But seven years later, in the local area, the property has become infamous.

They Didn’t Move In Right Away

Matt and Cassey did not move in right away, even though the mansion was all theirs. They had big plans for that exquisite home, you see. For this initiative, the overall cost will be just over $6 million. But with the bank only about $60 million, the Tophams scarcely batted an eyelid. The couple decided to demolish the current house from scratch and build an eight-bedroom home on the property. But they had all the locals raising their eyebrows when the plans were announced.

A ‘Teletubby-Style’ Home

The new design will be basically underground, called a “Teletubby-style” home by the newspapers. Solar panels, as well as a swimming pool and a cinema, were their eco-friendly vision. They had the objective of adding a second house to the property and constructing a garage for 10 cars. And, ironically, they gave the house “Serenity” for its name.  None of this, though, will come to pass.

They Had To Halt

Even though the designs for the mansion by Matt and Cassey were big and bold, they were optimistic they would be able to achieve them. With millions of dollars in the bank, after all, what could go wrong? Matt and Cassey soon got to work on their major project, but, for an unknown reason, their renovations soon came to an abrupt halt.

They Bought Another House

Matt and Cassey certainly made it. They bought the mansion and bought another house—specifically for their closest friends and relatives. With so much money in their bank, it was surprising that something forced them to leave the project entirely. The Rainbow House remains empty and essentially unchanged, instead of an imaginative new building emerging in its place. What happened?

A Horror House

The iconic mansion had the potential to become a dream home just seven years ago. The decaying and graffitied house, the stuff of nightmares and a blight on the city, stands empty now. Overgrown with whispering grass is the sprawling farm. With its windowless eyes, the mansion stares vacantly from the hill. For teenage rebels searching for a thrill, the house has become a hotspot, and the hellish mansion doesn’t disappoint.

Nottingham’s Scariest Place

Local residents say that, despite being boarded with tall security fences that surround the entire property, vandals routinely break into the property to smash items, set fires, and commit other crimes. It was not long until the derelict house became known as the “scariest place in Nottingham to have your photo taken” — which, of course, only attracted more ghost hunters. Which only attracted more ghost hunters, of course.

Messy Place

Neighbors constantly complain about the land. From a garden that “looks like a forest” due to how untidy and unkempt it is to the offensive graffiti that covered the exterior of the mansion. “The Tophams have shedloads of money and should be spending some to end this farce – or at least on security,” one told the Daily Mail.

It Was Unsafe

Another neighbor explained in an interview, “We have been told by the council that all the toilets have been smashed, leaving the drains open. That, in turn, attracted rats,” the neighbor continued, “There is also an empty swimming pool, which is a real danger too. I’m surprised no one has been seriously hurt in there.”  So, where were Matt and Cassey when all this was going on?

She Was Pregnant

Just when Cassey and Matt thought life couldn’t get any better, Cassey found out she was pregnant! Finally, the two soon-to-be-parents felt as if their family was complete. Though Cassey and Matt had their new fortune in their lives, the couple had utterly overlooked their dream mansion. They didn’t know what condition it was in.

It Was Disgusting

They were disgusted to see it in such a state when Cassey and Matt returned to the mansion to see what all the fuss was about. Toilets were smashed, garbage was thrown all over, and rats and other animals ran wild. On the walls, supernatural symbols were spray painted, and the whole house was a death trap and a significant danger to health and safety. The neighbors were livid that they had let Cassey and Matt get it that bad. Yet things were on the verge of getting worse.

Too Expensive To Build

Taking all this into account, it is perhaps shocking that the house has not already been demolished. But even though planning permission had been given, because the “Teletubby” house became too costly to build, the plans were placed on hold. No action was taken as a result, and Rainbow House was permitted to fall into disrepair.

Lucky Kids With Bad Taste

A neighbor who wanted to remain anonymous said, “They’re really lucky kids, with really bad taste.” While another neighbor said, “Not too much sense in it,” said another neighbor. “It almost seems like they dreamt it up and decided to do it without thinking.”  Another neighbor, who also asked not to be named, also commented: “It is a bit of an eyesore though, it won’t be long until it starts crumbling down. It’s been there for years and nothing’s changed with it, so I wouldn’t be surprised if nothing happens for a good long while yet.”

It Was Barricaded

The local council is well aware of the problem, however. Indeed, a recent Council report was quoted by the UK’s ITV saying, “The house has been the victim of anti-social behavior, vandalism, countless arson and nuisance fire attempts, and is now in a state where every opening has been blocked up… and secured by steel sheets.” And what about the ghosts that the house is said to be haunted with?

Demolishing The House

The council is likely to consider a new application considering the state in which the property is situated, so the Tophams have requested the police to apply for the demolition of the house on their behalf. That said, despite the couple obviously had plans to build a different house on the property, no hint of what it would look like has been given so far. And the ghosts of lost opportunity are the only “ghosts” in the house.