A notorious burglar who received £5.5 million from taxpayers as compensation after being stabbed in prison now laments that his newfound wealth has become a “curse,” following a spree of reckless spending on a party-driven lifestyle.

Steven Wilson, a seasoned criminal, secured a lawsuit victory against the Ministry of Justice after a violent incident in which he was stabbed 16 times with a nine-inch blade by another inmate while working in the prison kitchen.

Instead of using the significant settlement to reform his life, Wilson, who has amassed over 30 convictions in twenty years, has spiraled into a two-year binge of drugs and alcohol, accompanied by a large entourage.

His extravagant lifestyle has included spending tens of thousands on cocaine, indulging in drinking sprees at nightclubs and bars, and hosting lavish stays in five-star hotels with numerous companions.

Wilson has reportedly confided in family members, expressing his regret: “That compensation was nothing but a curse; it’s made me a target and brought me nothing but misery.”

Despite the vast sum of money, his sole daughter has seen little benefit, as Wilson has only met her a few times since he received the monumental payout in September 2024.

Wilson’s despairing older brother David Wilson has spoken for the first time to tell the Daily Mail about his fears that his brother could party himself to death – as notoriously happened with fellow Essex petty criminal Mickey ‘Lotto Lout Carroll’.

Binman Carroll won a £9,736,131 jackpot in the National Lottery when he was just 19 – and had blown the lot within eight years of wild partying.

And David Wilson is praying that by going public with his concerns his brother may finally slow down before he goes the same way as Carroll.

Because David says that far from giving his younger sibling a fresh start, his newfound wealth has brought back dangerous bad habits and attracted predators from his former life.

David, 42, said: ‘I’m his big brother and I think the truth needs to come out…for his own good. These millions have brought him misery.

‘I’d sooner he not have got a penny because it’s just led him back onto a dark path.’

Steven, 38, suffered a torn liver, fractured spine and lacerated spinal cord following the attack by inmate Patrick Chandler at HMP Chelmsford in Essex in July 2018.

He was unable to work due to his physical injuries and the post-traumatic stress disorder he suffered afterwards.

David said his brother is now largely confined to a wheelchair and has been forced to move away from his hometown of Tilbury in Essex after being harassed, robbed and swindled by former friends.

He has recently bought a £340,000 bungalow on the east coast to escape to.

David said that when Steven first got the money, he spent more than £150,000 on cars including an Audi RS3, a Volkswagen Tiguan and a Volvo XC60.

However, he is currently on a driving ban after being caught speeding and driving erratically.

He also splurged on gold jewellery as well as gifting friends and relatives expensive gifts like watches, BMW and a PlayStation 5 games console.

David said: ‘Steven had all this cash very quickly but by my estimate he’s already blown about half of it over the last 18 months or so.

‘He’s bought nice cars, a Volkswagen Passat, Audi RS3, Volkwagen Tiguan and a Volvo XC60. All second-hand cars but decent.

‘He bought jewellery, gold and he was treating people. He bought me a BMW and a PS5 and my dad an expensive watch.

‘But the worst thing he did was to announce that he had access to all that money. 

‘People around here don’t have much so his former friends and associates began leeching off him.

‘None of them visited him behind bars but as soon as he got the money they were all over him.

‘Steven has battled issues with drugs before the difference was this time he was five and half million quid richer.

‘They would give him drugs and wait until he was comatose through smoking crack cocaine and then steal his bank card and go on a shopping spree.

‘He was kidnapped by a gang once who took him to a house and tasered him on the floor until he gave up his bank details so they could take his money.

‘Another time he was ambushed by three lads at a KFC drive-thru who stole the jewellery he was wearing. I think he was set up by the girl he was with at the time.

‘None of these crimes were reported to the police, however, because Steven said he didn’t want the repercussions.

‘He started living from hotel to hotel to get away from trouble… but it inevitably followed him.

‘He lived with me for about six weeks last year but I asked him to leave because he was smoking crack and it was doing him no good. 

‘He’s spent thousands and thousands of pounds on drugs, I’d hate to think exactly how much.

‘I told him to stop the drugs, to invest his money better and to get out of Tilbury. At the moment he’s living on the coast in a bungalow he bought recently.

‘He can’t really climb stairs as his condition has worsened – not helped with his lifestyle – and he’s mostly in his wheelchair now.

‘It may have seemed like a blessing but Steven has told us “The money has been nothing but a curse”.’

Steven has 31 previous convictions between 1999 and 2018 and had been on remand for aggravated burglary at the time of the stabbing.

He was later convicted and sentenced to nine years, discounted to six-and-a-half-years imprisonment on account of his injuries, and was freed in June 2021.

Upon his release he accused the MoJ of failing to adequately assess whether Chandler, a violent prisoner serving a life sentence for murder, was safe for kitchen work.

A risk assessment said it was ‘unknown’ if Chandler could be left unsupervised – but he was still deployed to work in the kitchen with access to knives.

David said that when Steven (pictured, in a mugshot) first got the compensation money, he spent more than £150,000 on cars including an Audi RS3, a Volkswagen Tiguan and a Volvo XC60 

The MoJ admitted liability over the incident, but challenged the level of Steven’s claim for damages citing the fact that he had a 20-year criminal record with ‘next to no history’ of having earned an honest penny.

Nevertheless he was awarded £5,404,559.05 in damages by High Court judge Melissa Clarke with the MoJ ordered to pay his £546,000 lawyers’ bill.

Since that windfall he has barely seen his 15-year-old daughter he shares with ex-girlfriend Jade Lewis.

Steven met Jade just after joining the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment – aka The Vikings – although he was forced to delay his enrolment by a year when he broke his ankle playing football.

Their turbulent relationship ended after five years and saw him jailed for assault after beating Jade so severely she was left with a fractured cheekbone and broken ribs.

In fact, Steven has kept a low profile over the last six months amid claims he has largely shut himself away, paranoid that his former associates will track him down.

He broke cover earlier this year when he attended the funeral of David’s 22-year-old son Dylan.

And David said: ‘I saw Steven a few weeks ago. I wanted to lay Dylan’s ashes at a racing circuit in Europe that meant a lot to us.

‘It was featured in a racing game we used to love playing together on the PlayStation.

‘I organised the trip and Steven generously paid for it. I drove to Dover and we got the ferry over to Calais and headed to Amsterdam.

‘But the temptation for drugs proved too much. He bought crack and was smoking it in a luxury five-star hotel, which had been booked in my name.

‘I had to put him on a flight back home the following day. I told him that he couldn’t go on like this for much longer.

‘At the moment he spends most of his time in his bungalow but does go and see our sister in Wales who is also trying to get him on the straight and narrow.

‘He still has plenty of money but he needs to put it to good use and not squander it all. We’re hoping to work together soon.

‘Steven’s buying a mobile car valeting and detailing business which he will own and I’ll run.

‘I hope it will keep him focussed so he can lead a proper life and spend it with the people who matter.’