Nicholas Jake Barton, 34,great-grandson of Sir Winston Churchill was sentenced today to three years in an Australian prison for his role in a £5 million drug racket.
whose mother Arabella was the wartime leader’s granddaughter, pleaded guilty in November to involvement in the scheme to manufacture thousands of ecstasy pills.
He admitted to knowingly taking part in the supply of a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, a charge carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Barton, who bears a resemblance to Sir Winston, was arrested in June 2006 at his beachside flat in Sydney following a three-month undercover police investigation.
Police found in a property he had sub-let about 250,000 ecstasy tablets, 26 lbs of MDMA - the powder used to make the drug - as well as drug-making equipment and £40,000 in cash during the raids.
But District Court judge Colin Charteris found Barton had only a "belated" and limited role in the supply of the ecstasy tablets.
“The fact the defendant is descended from a hero of the 20th century does not affect the sentence I must impose," said Justice Charteris, adding that it "was of historical importance only".
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