Lottery Winner's £288m Fake Prescription Drugs Empire Crushed by Police
An elderly lottery winner who used his multi-million pound jackpot to establish an industrial-scale fake prescription drugs operation has been sentenced to 16-and-a-half years in prison. John Eric Spiby, 80, who won £2.4 million in 2010, orchestrated a sophisticated conspiracy that produced counterfeit medication with a potential street value reaching £288 million.
Sophisticated Operation Uncovered
The millionaire pensioner established what prosecutors described as a 'sophisticated' laboratory in converted stables opposite his rural cottage near Wigan, Greater Manchester. The facility featured frosted windows to conceal activities and contained industrial-scale equipment capable of producing tens of thousands of tablets per hour.
Spiby expanded his illicit enterprise by establishing a second drug factory in Salford with his son, John Colin Spiby, 37, and associates Lee Drury, 45, and Callum Dorrian, 35. The group used Drury's company, Nutra Inc, as a front for their operations, purchasing £200,000 worth of machinery and ingredients between June 2020 and May 2022.
Encrypted Messages and Firearms
The conspiracy unraveled after French law enforcement cracked encrypted EncroChat messages - often described as 'WhatsApp for criminals'. These communications revealed discussions about raw materials, plans to synthesize drugs for maximum profit, and even a recipe for drug production saved on Drury's phone.
Messages also linked Dorrian to firearms supply, including AK-47s, Uzis, Tec-9s, a Scorpion, a Grand Power pistol, silencers, and ammunition. Police surveillance culminated in April 2022 when officers intercepted a rented van containing 2.6 million counterfeit Diazepam tablets with a street value up to £5.2 million.
Significant Police Raids
Subsequent raids on multiple properties in May 2022 resulted in the seizure of three viable firearms, ammunition, substantial cash reserves, and significant quantities of counterfeit tablets and raw materials. Detective Inspector Alex Brown from Greater Manchester Police's Serious Organised Crime Group stated: 'These four individuals showed absolutely no regard for human life or public safety. All they were interested in was lining their own pockets with significant financial gain.'
Courtroom Sentencing
At Bolton Crown Court, Recorder Nicholas Clarke KC told Spiby Sr: 'Despite your lottery win, you continued to live your life of crime beyond what would be a normal retirement age.' The judge emphasized that the gang sold pills to people who 'could not find them through legitimate means' and that their actions caused 'untold harm' to addicts.
Prosecutors warned that desperate users purchasing these pills were playing 'Russian roulette' with their lives, with an increase in drug-related deaths noted in the area. The judge revealed that the group's driver had shipped approximately 37.5 million tablets over a 12-month period.
Lengthy Prison Sentences
Spiby Sr was convicted of conspiracy to produce and supply Class C drugs, plus conspiracy to possess a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life. His son received a nine-year sentence for conspiracy to produce Class B and Class C drugs, and conspiracy to supply Class C drugs.
Drury, who pleaded guilty partway through trial, was jailed for nine years and nine months for the same offences as Spiby Jr. Dorrian had previously received a 12-year sentence for conspiracy to supply firearms and drug offences at an earlier hearing.
Judge Clarke concluded: 'This was a very sophisticated and very significant commercial scale organised conspiracy - you were the source.' The case highlights how even substantial legitimate wealth failed to deter continued criminal enterprise, with the operation presenting what police described as a 'serious threat to communities not just in Greater Manchester but across the country and beyond.'
