On October 18, 1968, John Lennon and Yoko Ono are arrested
for drug possession at their home near Montagu Square in London, England. The
arrests came at a tempestuous time for the couple. Only days earlier, an
announcement was made that Ono was pregnant, creating a scandal because both
Lennon and Ono were still married to other people. Her pregnancy ended in a
miscarriage a few days after the arrest.
Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher, the instigator behind the
raid on Lennon and Ono, was an anti-drug zealot who would later arrest George
Harrison and his wife on similar charges. While Lennon was frantically trying
to get rid of the evidence, the police read a warrant through a bedroom window
and then broke down the front door. Drug-sniffing dogs found 200 grams of
hashish, a cigarette rolling machine with traces of marijuana, and half a gram
of morphine. However, the couple denied that the drugs belonged to them. When
the matter finally approached trial, Lennon pleaded guilty because he was
worried that Ono would be deported. He was received a small fine and warned
that another offense would bring a year in jail.
Michael
Thomas Barry is a columnist for
CrimeMagazine.com and is the author of Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early
California 1849-1949.
The book can be purchased from Amazon through the following link:
No comments:
Post a Comment