Labour Lord pays off his grandson’s £90,000 drug-dealing debt

A Labour life peer and former TV boss has paid £90,000 in confiscated drug profits owed by his dealer grandson.

Gus Macdonald. Picture: Rex/Shutterstock

Lord Gus Macdonald agreed to cover the cash following an investigation under Proceeds of Crime laws.

Grandson Daniel Lewis, 31, made the illegal money dealing Class A drugs from a Brighton flat where Geordie Shore star Aimee Spencer fell to her death.

The Proceeds of Crime Act was designed to take illegal profits away from convicted criminals to fund good causes.

Former STV managing director Lord Macdonald has paid the money ordered by the court to be confiscated from his grandson.

Lewis, his wife and Aimee spent the weekend on a drugs binge in the flat before the actress and porn star fell from a kitchen window. The flat also belonged to Lord Macdonald.

Ms Spencer’s death was featured in an ITV documentary. The 27-year-old fell from two storeys on to a flagstone patio in July 2016. Her naked body was found by a neighbour. Ms Spencer, who was known as Carla Mai, suffered catastrophic head injuries in the fall. She battled for life in hospital for a week before her life support was turned off.

Lewis was arrested on suspicion of murder and later released. An inquest at Hove heard she had taken cocaine and ketamine during a weekend drug binge. An investigation into his finances traced £98,827.77 related to drug dealing.

The Crown dropped ten per cent and rounded the figure down to £90,000 which Lord Macdonald agreed to pay.

A court heard Lewis has available assets of £431,243.22 which will still be his when he is released from prison.

Lewis pleaded guilty to dealing in LSD, banned steroids, cocaine, Ketamine and Meow Meow.

He lived rent-free in the flat in an exclusive seafront area of Brighton. He lived off a trust fund and did not need to deal drugs for money, Lewes Crown Court heard in November last year.

The original two-year suspended sentence was referred to the High Court in London for review under Unduly Lenient Sentence rules.

A panel of judges appeal court jailed Lewis for three years and ordered him to return to Brighton and hand himself in to police in January.

Lewis is serving his three-year sentence at HMP Rochester and was brought to court in Hove on Friday to finalise the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing. He spoke only to confirm his name. His barrister said Lord Macdonald would pay the debt.