Jean McCullagh, who won a £1 million bingo jackpot and then went back on a promise to split the money has been "officially" banished by her family. Although, she was finally forced to pay up, her sister Margaret Cleugh, 67, and sisters-in-law Rose McCullagh, 59, and Jessie McCullagh, 65, have declared that the damage to the relationship was permanent.

After collecting their cheques from a Glasgow lawyer's office, they gave a joint statement to the Record confirming Jean and her husband John have been banished by the entire family.

The statement reads: "There are no winners here."This should never have happened. "We agreed before the game we were sharing, not once but twice and again after the win."Jean and John have to deal with the loss of the family. "It's over now and we will put this behind us and get on with our lives."

Jean, 71, settled out of court on the eve of a Court of Session proof hearing into the case after two years disputing the claims. While such word-of-mouth contracts existed are difficult to prove, the three women and their husbands who faced losing their life savings if a judge ruled against them were determined to fight on principle. Within a week of the win, High Court judge Lord Brodie froze Jean's bank account and ordered Mecca not to pay out until the law decided who was entitled to what.

The case against Jean, from Uddingston, Lanarkshire, was regarded as a solid proposition because of the weight of evidence against her. She had been set to argue in court the unlikely case that she had agreed to split any winnings, unless they happened to win the £1million jackpot, which each would keep to herself. The others said they all celebrated the win with champagne on the day she struck lucky in October 2007. But the day after, they said, she changed her tune, saying: "This money will set my daughters up for life."

An insider has claimed that the decision to settle the matter was based on the fact that if Jean lost at court and all the legal costs from the other parties were added to the bill Jean might be left with nothing. Jean and John are yet to make a fomal comment.