British Pensioner Who Won The Lottery Used His £2.4 Million Winnings To Set Up A Drug Lab

A British pensioner has been jailed for 16.5 years for using his £2.4 million National Lottery winnings to establish a massive counterfeit drug operation.

John Eric Spiby, 80, used the cash to set up an industrial-scale drug lab in converted stables opposite his cottage in Wigan, Greater Manchester.

Spiby won the jackpot in 2010 at age 65, before setting up the lab with his son and two associates and proceeding to flood the Manchester region with millions of Diazepam (valium) and Etizolam tablets, which were sold on the street for approximately 65p each.

Police estimated the potential street value of the drugs produced by his gang between 2020 and 2022 to be between £57.6 million and £288 million. Those are Walter White numbers! He didn’t even have to cook any meth!

Spiby even boasted in encrypted messages that “Elon [Musk] and Jeff [Bezos] best watch their backs” due to the high profits.

In the end, the whole thing came crashing down when investigators cracked the notorious Encrochat app AKA Whatsapp for criminals. Police intercepted a van containing 2.6 million tablets and later found firearms and ammunition at Spiby’s home.

Spiby was convicted of conspiracy to produce and supply Class B and C drugs, along with firearms offences. His son, John Colin Spiby (below), and two other associates were also jailed for their roles in the conspiracy.

And to think – it could have been so different. He could have invested that £2.4 million Lottery win and had the best retirement ever. He could have put some of it into Bitcoin and made a few more million that way. He could have even set up a charity and made the world a better place.

Instead, he got greedy and set up a drugs lab to produce counterfeit pills. In fairness, it sounds like it was a huge success. He turned £2.4 million into £228 million ffs! But then he got caught, so it was all for nothing really.

Still, he did it for him. He liked it. He was good at it. And he was alive.

For the British pensioner facing life in prison after he was found with £200,000 of meth in Chile, click HERE. I guess they feel it’s worth the risk at that age?