MERSEYSIDE’S newest millionaires – dubbed the ‘Magnificent Seven’ – stepped into the limelight for the first time since their astonishing lottery win.

The group of IT workers, who were based at BT’s Wood Street call centre, were unveiled at a press conference yesterday, where they collected a cheque for £45,570,835.50.

John Walsh, 57; James Bennett, 28; Sean Connor, 32; Alex Parry, 19; Emma Cartwright, 23; Ceri Scullion, 35; and Donna Rhodes, 39; have each won £6.5m.

The lucky dip winners are now set to earn interest of between £116 to £294 a day – amounting to between £42,250-£107,250 each year – depending on the type of savings account they choose.

Mr Walsh said: “I was sat up watching a video on Saturday night and I thought I would check the numbers. I checked the line and thought we had won – I could not believe it.

“I ran upstairs, woke my wife and said we had won the lottery. My two children heard and they came down to double-check the numbers.”

After spending a sleepless night as a lottery winner, Mr Walsh was up first thing on Sunday morning, desperate to check the actual ticket – which he had left in his drawer at work.

He called Mr Bennett and the pair drove into work to check the ticket before calling their colleagues.

Mr Walsh said: “I did not quite get the response I expected.

“With the economy in the state it is in, everyone has been worried about jobs, so they all thought I was calling them to tell them they had been made redundant.

“But thankfully, I got to tell them some good news instead.”

The syndicate usually played the Irish lottery each week and had won £87 each the previous week.

But they also had a punt on the EuroMillions draw whenever there was a rollover.