He promptly pledged to give his 50,000 pound ($82,930) prize to his creditors after one of the most startling prize-givings in the 35-year history of the famed prize.

"It ain't coming to me," said Pierre, pseudonym for the British writer Peter Finlay. "It is about a third of what I owe in the world," he told reporters. "I am going to pay some debts."

Finlay has admitted to be being a reformed drug addict and gambler, confessing that he sold his best friends' home and pocketed the proceeds.

He also said he had worked up massive debts in a scheme to make a film in Mexico.

"I am bringing my past into the future and will be happily having another crack at it. I intend paying all the money back and have already started doing so," he told Reuters before landing the prize and facing the full glare of media publicity.

"Regrets -- I am full of them," said the 42-year-old writer who was born in Australia, spent time in Mexico and now lives in Ireland.