80-year-old lottery winner sentenced for bankrolling $400M drug empire from cottage with son
Authorities announced Wednesday that an elderly man who used his 2010 lottery winnings to run a drug empire from his cottage alongside his son and two accomplices, has been sentenced to jail.
John Eric Spiby, 80, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in England after an investigation uncovered counterfeit pills worth up to $400 million, Greater Manchester Police said. His son, John Colin Spiby, 37, was sentenced to nine years.
"They operated a fully industrialized drug manufacturing business capable of producing millions of counterfeit tablets containing a highly dangerous substance," Alex Brown, detective inspector of the Serious Organized Crime Group that led the investigation, said in a statement.
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"The volume of tablets we recovered — along with the sophisticated machinery — demonstrated how deeply embedded this group was in the illicit drug supply chain."
Local United Kingdom outlet LBC reported that Spiby won the National Lottery in 2010, at around 65 years old, cashing in £2.4 million, equivalent to roughly $3.3 million in 2026.
During the sentencing, Judge Nicholas Clarke KC told LBC that, "despite your lottery win, you continued to live your life of crime beyond what would be a normal retirement age."
Sometime between November 2021 and May 2022, Spiby equipped his cottage behind his home with an "industrial‑scale tablet manufacturing set-up capable of producing tens of thousands of tablets per hour," police said. According to a court hearing, they were also able to "hide" his lab by frosting the windows, LBC reported.
The organization allegedly produced counterfeit diazepam tablets, also known as Valium, laced with etizolam, a substance banned in the U.S. normally prescribed for insomnia and anxiety. In high doses, etizolam can cause severe central nervous system depression, potentially leading to unconsciousness, respiratory failure and death.
The group also facilitated and supplied firearms including AK‑47s, an Uzi, Tec‑9s, a Scorpion, a Grand Power pistol, silencers and ammunition, police said.
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In the early stages of the operation in August 2020, the group reportedly operated "under the guise of a lawful business" by creating a fake company along with a website advertising tablet presses, mixers, packaging machines and powdered supplements.
During the operation, the suspects rented a shipping container to store materials and millions of counterfeit tablets awaiting distribution. Officers, however, intercepted them in April 2022 and found a vehicle containing 2.6 million counterfeit diazepam tablets with an estimated street value between $1.4 million and $7 million.
The following month, a warrant led to the seizure of guns, ammunition, cash, machinery, counterfeit drugs and raw materials.
Police estimated the crime ring produced drugs with a potential street value equivalent to roughly $80 million to $400 million.
Of the other two accomplices, Callum Dorian, 35, received a 12‑year prison sentence in September 2024, while Lee Ryan Drury, 45, was sentenced to nine years.
The four members faced charges that included conspiracy to produce and supply Class C drugs, conspiracy to supply firearms, possession of firearms and ammunition and perverting the course of justice.
"These four individuals showed absolutely no regard for human life or public safety," Brown said. "All they were interested in was lining their own pockets with significant financial gain."
Fox News Digital reached out to Greater Manchester Police for more information.