Churchill's great-grandson jailed for €7m drugs racket
Friday December 21 2007
A great-grandson of Winston Churchill was sentenced to three years imprisonment in Australia yesterday for his role in a €7m drug racket.
Nicholas Jake Barton (34) whose mother, Arabella, was the wartime leader's granddaughter, pleaded guilty in a Sydney court last month to involvement in a scheme to manufacture thousands of ecstasy pills.
He admitted to 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 was arrested in June 2006 at his beachside flat in Sydney following a three-month undercover police investigation into the drug-making operations.
In a property he had sub-let, police found about 250,000 ecstasy tablets, 26lbs of MDMA -- the powder used to make the drug -- as well as drug-making equipment and €55,000 in cash.
Limited
Judge Colin Charteris found Barton had only a "belated" and limited role in the supply of the ecstasy tablets, but said: "The fact the defendant is descended from a hero of the 20th century does not affect the sentence I must impose." He added that Barton's guilty plea indicated "genuine contrition".
Judge Charteris found there was no evidence Barton had profited from the drug-making operation. Among the references Barton gave to the court was one from his uncle, the former MP Winston Churchill.
Barton admitted sub-letting an apartment to Reese Gerard Woodgate (42) a New Zealander who also pleaded guilty to the drugs charges.
The sentence was backdated to his arrest, meaning he will be eligible for parole by February.
Barton, who emigrated to Australia at the age of 18, studied marine biology in Tasmania and took out Australian citizenship. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Nick Squires in Sydney
