Winning £2.4M on the National Lottery back in 2010 was not enough to put the now 80-year-old John E Spiby, described by a senior judge as a “career criminal” off his latest plot.
The drugs lab he ran from his quiet rural home in Astley, just outside Tyldesley where the gang produced diazepam tablets containing etizolam proved to be the tip of the iceberg.
Together Spiby Senior, his 37-year-old son John C Spiby, referred to his “Spiby Junior”, Lee Drury, 45 and Callum Dorian, 35, they flooded the region with millions of counterfeit drugs.
Bolton Crown Court heard how the millions of drugs came to a street value of anything between £56M and £288.
Millions of tablets were produced (Image: GMP)
The Honorary Recorder for Bolton Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said was sure to cause “untold harm to those who were addicted to such drugs.”
He noted expert evidence which pointed to how drugs like these had likely led to increased deaths amongst vulnerable users like the homeless.
Spiby Senior, who Judge Clarke described as a life long “career criminal” had been “senior in both name and role” in the conspiracy.
Greater Manchester Police launched an investigation into the gang’s activities between November 2021 and May 2022 dubbed Operation Venetic.
Callum Dorian was involved in sending Echrochat messages about guns (Image: GMP)
They found that Dorian, a gang member who had “broken ranks”, pleaded guilty and was sentenced at an earlier hearing before Spiby and the others, was involved in the supply of guns.
Using the handle “Fallensoda”, Dorian sent out messages and images about AK‑47s, an Uzi, Tec‑9s, a Scorpion, a Grand Power pistol, silencers, and ammunition.
The messages also showed the large‑scale production of counterfeit diazepam tablets containing etizolam.
The group was put under surveillance and officers found that Spiby Senior had an industrial scale tablet manufacturing set up hidden at his cottage.
The group produced counterfeit drugs on a “horrifying scale” (Image: GMP)
The gang also bought an industrial unit on Albion Street in Swinton in 2021 to convert into a similar factory.
A shipping container on Chaddock Lane in Astley, rented by Drury and controlled by the group, was used to store materials and millions of counterfeit tablets awaiting distribution.
Drury had also created a fake company in August 2020, complete with a website advertising tablet presses, mixers, packaging machines, and powdered supplements.
Lee Drury (Image: GMP)
By adding this layer of so‑called legitimacy, the group was able to operate under the guise of a lawful business while running a highly profitable criminal enterprise.
On 1 April 2022, officers saw Dorian and Drury loading a hire van with boxes from the Chaddock Lane storage site.
The vehicle was intercepted and found to contain 2.6 million counterfeit Diazepam tablets, with an estimated street value of between £1,040,000 and £5,200,000.
Judge Clarke said evidence like showed the “scale was truly horrifying” when it came to the number of drugs being sold.
But on May 17, 2022 the plot came crashing down when police carried out several raids, seizing guns ammunition, cash and industrial tablet‑manufacturing machinery.
They also found huge amounts of counterfeit tablets and raw materials.
Callum Dorian (Image: GMP)
Dorrian, of Guilford Road, Eccles, had already been 12 years in prison after confessing to conspiracy to supply firearms and conspiracy to produce and supply Class C drugs.
After a trial at Bolton Crown Court, Spiby Senior, of Lower Green Lane, Astley, was convicted of conspiracy to produce and supply Class C drugs.
He was also found guilty of two counts of possessing a firearm, possession of ammunition, and perverting the course of justice and jailed for 16 years and six months.
Spiby Senior (Image: GMP)
Spiby Junior, of Britannia Way, Salford was convicted of conspiracy to produce and supply Class C drugs after a trial and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Drury pleaded guilty part way through the trial to produce and supply Class C drugs and was jailed for nine years and nine months.
Detective Inspector Alex Brown, from Greater Manchester Police’s Serious Organised Crime Group, said: “These four individuals showed absolutely no regard for human life or public safety.
“All they were interested in was lining their own pockets with significant financial gain.
“They operated a fully industrialised drug‑manufacturing business capable of producing millions of counterfeit tablets containing a highly dangerous substance.
Spiby Junior (Image: GMP)
“The volume of tablets we recovered, along with the sophisticated machinery, demonstrated how deeply embedded this group was in the illicit drug supply chain.
“Alongside the drug production, this group was also linked to the supply of a range of deadly firearms, including automatic weapons and ammunition.
“This potentially deadly combination presented a serious threat to communities not just in Greater Manchester but across the country and beyond.
“The sentences should serve as a clear warning: organised crime will not be tolerated.
“We will continue to pursue those who seek to profit from harm, and we will use every power and tool available to disrupt and dismantle serious organised crime gangs.”