• Lottery Winner Involved in Forbidden Products Empire
• Court Sentences Main Defendant to 16 Years and 6 Months

A British court revealed that an 80-year-old man who won £2.4 million (around $3 million) in the national lottery contributed to building an empire for manufacturing forbidden tablets on an industrial scale, with a market value of hundreds of millions.

Sessions at Bolton Crown Court stated that John Eric Spiby (80) led a criminal operation estimated at £288 million (around $365 million), using his quiet rural home near Wigan as a central hub.

Despite denying knowledge of the conspiracy, the jury convicted him of conspiracy to produce and supply forbidden products, possession of firearms and ammunition, and perverting the course of justice.

Spiby was sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison.

The court heard that the network flooded the area with millions of tablets marketed as a calming medicine for anxiety, muscle spasms, and seizures.

It was confirmed that he provided the premises and contributed to adapting them and purchasing equipment worth substantial sums to manufacture the tablets.

During sentencing, Judge Clarke noted that Spiby continued a "criminal life" despite winning the lottery and surpassing the usual retirement age.

The prosecution indicated that the operation was carried out on an "industrial scale" and also involved supplying weapons.

Spiby was one of four defendants in an organized group, including his son John Colin Spiby, alongside Lee Drury and Callum Dorian, all of whom received prison sentences.

The court revealed group chats in which Spiby boasted that "Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos should watch out."

The prosecution highlighted that the production volume could be the largest of its kind uncovered by British police, with much of the activity centered around Spiby’s "ostensibly quiet" rural home, as emphasized by the judge.

Drury was sentenced to nine years and nine months, the son to nine years, and Dorian received a 12-year sentence in 2024.