John Eric and John Colin Spiby
Greater Manchester Police

An 80-year-old National Lottery winner has been jailed for more than 16 years after bankrolling what prosecutors described as one of the largest counterfeit pill operations ever uncovered by British police.

John Eric Spiby scooped a £2.4 million ($3.3 million) jackpot in 2010 and used his windfall to build a drugs empire from his quiet rural cottage near Wigan, Greater Manchester.

His operation flooded the region with millions of counterfeit diazepam tablets carrying a potential street value of up to £288 million ($356 million), according to LBC.

Across from his cottage, Spiby was said to have transformed a humble stable into a drugs factory. The windows were frosted so nobody could see in. He invested in industrial-grade equipment which were capable of spitting out tens of thousands of counterfeit pills every hour.

The drug of choice? Etizolam, a sedative roughly six to eight times stronger than real diazepam.

Judge Condemns Continued Life Of Crime

Spiby Sr was convicted of conspiracy to produce and supply Class C drugs, two counts of possessing a firearm, possession of ammunition, and perverting the course of justice. He will be serving 16 years and six months in prison.

During the sentencing, Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said the defendant had continued living a life of crime well past what would be a normal retirement age despite his lottery fortune. The judge acknowledged defence arguments that another gang member was the principal operator but concluded that Spiby had been senior in both name and role throughout the conspiracy, The Telegraph reported.

His 37-year-old son, John Colin Spiby, likewise received nine years for conspiracy to produce and supply Class C drugs. The duo had earlier denied the charges, but both were found guilty following a trial in November 2025.

Two other gang members also received jail sentences. Callum Dorian, 35, was meted a 12-year sentence in September 2024, while Lee Ryan Drury, 45, pleaded guilty midway through the trial and received a sentence of nine years and nine months. The four men will serve a combined 47 years in prison.

Drury and Dorrian
Greater Manchester Police

Billionaire Boasts And A Deadly Product

As per GB News, Spiby was said to have bragged in group chats that tech billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos should watch their backs.

Between June 2020 and May 2022, the gang invested approximately £200,000 ($247,000) in machinery and raw ingredients, selling each tablet for just 65p. They disguised their activities behind a fake company, complete with a professional website advertising tablet presses and packaging equipment.

Millions Of Pills And An Arsenal Of Weapons

Greater Manchester Police tracked the gang through intelligence gathered from Operation Venetic, a national crackdown that infiltrated the encrypted messaging platform EncroChat. Investigators identified Dorian through his handle on the service, which revealed communications about both drug manufacturing and firearms trafficking.

Officers intercepted a hired van in April 2022 containing 2.6 million counterfeit diazepam tablets worth up to £5.2 million ($6.4 million). Warrants executed the following month uncovered three viable firearms, including an AK-47 and an Uzi.

They also had multiple silencers, ammunition, cash, and substantial quantities of raw materials, according to ITV News. The gang had also rented a shipping container to stockpile millions of tablets awaiting distribution.

Police Say Gang Had No Regard For Human Life

Detective Inspector Alex Brown from Greater Manchester Police described the operation as fully industrialised. In an official report, police said the gang had demonstrated absolutely no regard for human life or public safety and that their only interest was lining their own pockets with significant financial gain.

The sheer volume of tablets recovered alongside sophisticated manufacturing equipment showed how deeply embedded the group had become in the illicit drug supply chain, Brown explained.

The combination of large-scale drug production and firearms trafficking posed a serious threat to communities across the country.