An 80-year-old man who won £2.4m on the national lottery helped build a multimillion pound drug empire that involved manufacturing counterfeit tablets on an industrial scale, a court has heard.

John Eric Spiby was the leader of a drugs operation worth up to £288m that centred around his “quiet rural” home near Wigan, Manchester crown court heard.

Spiby won the money in 2010, the court was told, and was involved in flooding the region with millions of tablets disguised as diazepam. Diazepam, also known as Valium, calms the nervous system to treat anxiety, muscle spasms, seizures, and alcohol withdrawal.

The court heard that he also “provided the premises and helped adapt the premises and purchase machinery” worth thousands of pounds to make the drugs.

Spiby was one of four men, including his son John Colin Spiby, who police said were part of an organised crime gang producing drugs on an “industrial scale” and supplying firearms.

John Eric Spiby denied any knowledge of the conspiracy but after a trial at Bolton Crown Court he was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to produce class C drugs and conspiracy to supply class C drugs.

He was also found guilty of two counts of possession of firearms, possession of ammunition and perverting the course of justice and was given a jail sentence of 16 years and six months.

Sentencing, Judge Clarke KC told Spiby Sr: “Despite your lottery win you continued to live a life of crime beyond what would normally have been your retirement years.”

Three other men who were part of the organisation – John Colin Spiby, 37, Lee Drury, 45, and Callum Dorian, 35 – have also been jailed.

Bolton crown court heard how Spiby Sr had boasted “Elon and Jeff best watch their backs” in a group chat. A senior judge described the case as the biggest of its kind.

The prosecutor Emma Clarke said the plotters were involved in producing counterfeit pills with a street value that could have to run to as much as £288m.

Adam Kent KC, for Spiby Sr, said Dorian rather than his client was the “principle of this operation”, the organiser, orchestra and director. He said that in Dorian’s words, the “guy who’s gaff we use is a millionaire”, referring to Spiby Sr.

Kent also pointed to the “antiquity” of the revolvers found at his client’s home, which he said dated to the first world war.

During the trial the judge repeatedly referred to the sheer scale of the criminal operation. He said he had been led to conclude this was “the largest production of drugs of this nature that has ever been uncovered by the police”.

Clarke noted how much of the production centred around Spiby Sr’s home, an “ostensibly rural, quiet area”. He said that he had been “senior in both name and role”. Drury was jailed for nine years and nine months, John Colin Spiby for nine years and his father for 16 years and six months. Dorian was jailed for 12 years in 2024.