An 80-year-old British man who won nearly €4.8 million on the lottery has been sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison after using the money to set up a large-scale drug cartel, a court has ruled.
According to The Guardian, John Eric Spiby, from near Wigan in north-west England, won the lottery in 2010. Rather than enjoying retirement, prosecutors said he used the windfall to bankroll an industrial operation producing and selling counterfeit diazepam, commonly known as Valium, a prescription drug used to treat anxiety and muscle spasms.
Over several years, Spiby's network distributed millions of fake tablets, generating an estimated turnover of €335 million, according to prosecutor Emma Clarke.
The operation was run from his "quiet, rural" home, which investigators described as the unlikely hub of a highly organised criminal enterprise.
Despite denying any involvement, Spiby was convicted of drug production and distribution, as well as weapons and ammunition offences and obstruction of justice.
The court described the case as an egregious example of organised crime financed by legitimate means.
His son, John Colin Spiby, 37, was also convicted for his role in what the court called an organised drug cartel operating “on an industrial scale”. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
What began as a fairy-tale lottery win ultimately became a cautionary tale of squandered fortune, as Spiby’s winnings fuelled a criminal operation that left both father and son behind bars.
