Ticket buyers still want answers about a win a property competition, which they claim deviated from its terms and conditions.

Last year, the winner of a cash prize of about £120,000 was announced as part of the internet competition, as not enough £20 tickets were bought to win the main prize - a house worth upwards of £750,000 near Cronk y Voddy.

The competition was launched in 2017 and also offered prize draws. The terms and conditions stated that if fewer than 45,000 tickets were sold before the deadline and there was insufficient funding to award the property then the amount from the already bought tickets would be given as a cash prize to a winner, following a subtraction of expenses.

As this was the case, house owner Anne Lumley awarded a cash prize to someone named ’Sarah’ in the presence of five other entrants.

At the time ticket buyers contacted the Manx Independent, as they questioned the identity of the winner, witnesses and the way the prize draw had been handled.

Nearly a year on and entrants continue to seek answers.

Diane Carter, from York, bought one ticket for the draw.

She said: ’The rules did say that if not enough tickets were sold, then there would be a cash prize, which I was happy with.

’However the rules also stated that the draw would be held with a solicitor and other officials present and not in the presence of any interested party.

’It seems however that there were no "officials" present at the draw. This in itself was against the rules set by the promoter of the competition.

’All of us who entered the competition and paid our ticket money deserve to know at the very least the amount that the "winner" won, and the names of the people present at the draw.’

The competition rules stated that ’the winner will be drawn in the presence of an accountant and solicitor with no vested interest in the competition’.

It’s not clear whether this rule applied only if the house itself was won.

Ms Carter added: ’We, the participants, feel aggrieved at the lack of openness of this draw. I am not a sore loser and if Sarah is genuine, I wish her well.’

She explained that the winner’s full name and town of residence should have been posted, as the terms and conditins stated: ’The full name and town of residence of the winners will be posted for the purposes of announcing a winner within 24 hours of the winner being determined’.

A Kirk Michael entrant, who would like to remain anonymous, bought about £700-worth in competition tickets.

He said that there was a Facebook group of about 400 people who bought tickets who felt as though they’ve been let down by Ms Lumley.

’We all trusted Ms Lumley and the competition rules.

’We want the official draw as promised. A lot of us, myself included, feel like mugs now.

’How do we see how much money was actually generated by ticket sales?’

A Douglas resident, who also wishes to remain anonymous, said: ’I bought one ticket after reading about the great sales so far quoted as over 14,000.

’Whilst I accept the money is gone and I didn’t win, I am not bitter. I am disturbed that no one is challenging her.

’It should be investigated and full disclosure of the facts so other competitions are not run in this way.’

A police spokesman stated that at the time of the winner being announced that no verified complaints had been made.

’Initially we only had word of mouth and some social media comments passed. We latterly had information we looked at. On assessment it was not a police matter,’ he said.

House owner Anne Lumley told the Manx Independent she found the experience of running the competition had ended ’horrifically’.

’I didn’t do anything wrong,’ she insisted. ’The competition really affected me. I had people threatening to come over to sort me out. I’m still living at the property. It took me long enough to get comfortable in my house again. It made me feel sick.’

She said she wanted to ’explain things to people’ but was advised against this by her lawyers. ’They were all happy it had been done properly,’ she said.

’I didn’t give away the lady’s name because she didn’t want me to and I respected that because it was different to the competition. Afterwards she said to me: "If you want, you can tell people" because she felt sorry for me. I said: "No, I won’t be bullied into it".’

Ms Lumley confirmed that about £120,000 was given as a cash prize.

When told that some entrants wanted a re-draw, she replied: ’How can I do that? The lady’s won the money.

’I hold my hands up, I’m naive.

’There’s no regulation to say how to do that [a win a property competition]. I’m just an ordinary person who tried to do something different.

’How can I scam people when everyone knows where I live? It’s ridiculous.

’They’re sore losers as far as I can see. I don’t know what they want me to do. It’s all done and dusted.’

She added that the Manx Independent had previously quoted the property’s worth as £800,000. She said that she had ’turned down an offer of £800,000 in 2008’, but the house had been ’on the market before for £749,000’.