Key Facts

• John Spiby, aged 80, won £2.4 million in the lottery and used some of it to finance a drug operation.
• He secretly built a drug lab in the triple garage of his cottage in Wigan, Greater Manchester.
• The police discovered an "industrial-scale" setup capable of producing thousands of diazepam pills per hour.
• Spiby was arrested following a police raid in May 2022.
• The operation included a second drug factory in nearby Salford.
• Police found millions of fake diazepam pills, cash, firearms, and ammunition.
• The fake drugs were potentially worth up to £288 million on the street.
• John Spiby was sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison for conspiracy to produce and supply drugs.