A 15-year-old schoolboy who almost missed out in competing in the popular online game Fortnite World Cup has won almost £1 million.

Jayden Ashman, from Essex, competed under the Wolfiez was crowned the winner at the end of three-day event held inside the Arthur Ashe tennis stadium in New York on Saturday, July 27.

The teen was awarded $2.25m (£1.8m) but announced he will be splitting the prize fund with runner-up and team-mate Dave John from the Netherlands.

Ashman’s obsession with video games caused years of arguments with his mother, Lisa Dallman who, once threw out an Xbox after her son’s choice to become a professional esport player.

Speaking to the BBC, Ashman said: "Me and my mum, we clash quite a lot. Like, she didn't understand how it worked, so she thought that I was spending eight hours a day in my room just wasting my time.

"So now that I've proved to her that I can do stuff, I'm really happy."

His mother, Lisa Dallman, added: "If I'm honest with you I've been quite against him gaming. I've been more pushing him to his schoolwork.

"I've actually thrown an XBox out, snapped a headset, we've had a nightmare.

"And then leading up to the games, getting his visa, we had problems with that so we had a week of a nightmare.

"And then my work messed up my wages, so three things went wrong before we started heading here so I knew we were on an even keel and everything was going to go right."

The 15-year-old from Hornchurch was one of several UK gamers to fly to New York to take part in the tournament against 100 competitors, many aged between 12 and 16.

The teenager from Hornchurch put his success down to playing sometimes up to eight hours a day since Fortnite was released in September 2017.

“Me and my mum, we clash quite a lot,” Ashman told the BBC. “She didn’t understand how it worked, so she thought that I was spending eight hours a day in my room just wasting my time.

“So now that I’ve proved to her I can do stuff, I’m really happy.”

The online battle royale game has become a popular culture sensation since its launch two years ago - more than 250 million people have now played.

The Essex teen nearly missed the tournament after facing problems securing a US visa and, discovering that his dog ate his birth certificate.

“This is not a joke – this actually really did happen,” said Ms Dallman. “And then my work messed up my wages, so three things went wrong before we started heading here so I knew we were on an even keel and everything was going to go right.”

When asked about the prize money, Ms Dallman added: "I think Jaden's not really a materialistic person. He will have a lifetime supply of Uber Eats, and I think that will do him, to be fair.”