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Daily Mail
02-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Pictured: Bowls-loving British pensioner, 79, who faces dying behind bars after he was 'found with £200,000 of meth' in Chile
A bowls-loving British pensioner who was 'found with £200,000 meth' in Chile has been pictured. William "Billy Boy" Eastment, 79, faces dying behind bars after being intercepted at Santiago Airport with the class A drug on May 18. He had arrived on a flight from Cancun and was booked to travel to Sydney in Australia the following day having been allegedly promised £3.7million by a Mexican gang to smuggle the suitcase, The Mirror reports. Eastment was known by neighbours in his home village of Milborne Port, Somerset as a quiet OAP and 'just a simple pensioner'. The arrest has come as a shock, with locals describing his love of crown greens and fondness of fishing. A retired heavy goods and bus fitter, Eastment was remanded in custody following a court appearance after a judge approved a prosecution request to send him to prison pending probable charges and trial. Chilean police say the 79-year-old is behind bars in Santiago 1 Penitentiary - a place far removed from the humble set of bungalows he previously inhabited. Police previously said the drugs he was caught with would have been worth around £200,000 on the streets of the south American country. He was intercepted after his luggage was put through an airport scanner. The British traveller was asked to open his suitcase in front of officers after they detected a 'suspicious' substance and police discovered a secret compartment where 5kg of the drugs had been packed. Airport police chief Sergio Paredes said it was the first time the arrested man had entered Chile. Despite some positive testimonies from neighbours, Eastman's ex-partner claimed she knew a darker side of the pensioner as he was 'always shouting at swearing' at her, according to The Mirror. Adding she had not spoken to Eastman since 2017, she said: 'People around here won't know him very well because they knew he was trouble. 'He had a hell of a temper and was always falling out with people. So neighbours would nod and say hello, but otherwise didn't get involved.' One neighbour recalled seeing Eastman just days before his arrest, saying he had mentioned going to Mexico but 'missed his flight' meaning he 'had to get a later one'. The neighbour questioned 'what on earth is someone like that doing mixed up drugs' and said 'he's just a simply pensioner, I hardly living the high life there'. The drugs arrest is the latest in a series of similar recent apprehensions around the world involving British nationals, although most have been far younger than Eastman. Officer Paredes said: 'This person came from Mexico and when he was arrested and taken to the anti-narcotics squad's airport offices, he said that the suitcase had been received by some Mexican nationals at Cancun airport. 'He was due to spend a night in a hotel in the centre of Santiago before boarding a flight to Sydney, Australia.' Mr Paredes added police were still investigating whether the drugs were due to remain in Chile or be taken to Australia. He told local press: 'Prosecutors are looking into this and trying to establish whether the drug was for internal consumption or was due to be transported by this British national to Australia.' Chilean customs officers released pictures of the drugs they had confiscated, saying: 'Customs officials intercepted a foreign citizen with more than five kilos of methamphetamines hidden in a secret compartment in his luggage at Santiago Airport. 'He was stopped after his luggage was scanned and has been remanded in custody.' Yesterday it emerged a British couple aged 33 and 34 had been held at Valencia airport after police discovered 33 kilos of cannabis in their luggage. The pair claimed they were tourists coming from Thailand after they were intercepted as they got off a flight from France. A 23-year-old British woman in Ghana was arrested last week after being accused of attempting to bring up to 18kg of cannabis into the UK on a May 18 British Airways flight to Gatwick. Bella May Culley, 18, sparked a massive international search operation in early May after she was reported missing while she was believed to be holidaying in Thailand. However, it was later revealed that the teen, from Billingham, County Durham, had been arrested 4,000 miles away on drug offences in Georgia, allegedly carrying 14kg of cannabis into the ex-Soviet nation. And recently 21-year-old Charlotte Lee May, from Coulsdon, south London, was arrested in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo after police discovered 46kg of 'Kush' - a synthetic strain of cannabis - in her suitcase. The former flight attendant, facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted, is claiming she had 'no idea' about the drugs worth up to £1.2 million and insisting they must have been planted in her luggage without her knowledge.
The Guardian
16-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Precious crafts of thatching and violin-making are under threat
Your article on the sad decline in some British crafts (Welsh thatching and ship figurehead carving added to UK crafts red list, 13 May) noted that 'thatched roofs in Wales are becoming 'more similar to English styles of thatch'. The Welsh style is different, with a rounder outside appearance.' There is in fact no such thing as 'Welsh' thatching, or 'English' come to that. In both the north and south of Wales, the craft has long shared styles with its English neighbours. Angular work in the north is also found in Lancashire and Cheshire, while rounded thatch in combed cereal straw in the very south is identical to that found in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. This has been the case for at least two centuries. The type of thatch seen in the photo published online with your article was common in south-west Wales, but the 'rolled gable' feature can be still found from Northamptonshire to Dumfries. The original straw roping on these Welsh roofs was also seen in Ireland, along with the decorative 'rope top' ridging, once widespread throughout Wales. In doing research for my website, I realised that the craft follows no political boundaries. The various traditional styles are essentially a combination of climate and material supply, perhaps combined with some very early folk CookMilborne Port, Somerset Steven Morris's article prompts me to mention two severe blows that have hit the craft of violin-making and restoration in this country. The first was the recent death of Charles Beare, internationally renowned as the leading authority and connoisseur of violins, violas and cellos, and a lifelong, generous supporter of young makers. His passing leaves London very much the poorer as a world centre of expertise in this specialised field. The second blow is that the degree programme at the Newark School of Violin Making will not be running this year, apparently because there were not enough applicants. Over the last 50 years, the Newark school, in Nottinghamshire, has nurtured a generation of people from all over the world dedicated to the craft, which can be traced back to the Tudor period in this country, and came to rival similar schools in Cremona, Italy, and Mittenwald, Germany. The abandonment of the violin-making course would be a great loss to craft and music. I should add that my entire career in this fantastic trade was given to me by the Newark school and by Charles Beare. So I am biased, but particularly DilworthTwickenham, London
