THE Marquess of Blandford secretly arranged a supply of cocaine—after promising his family and blueblood friends he had reformed his debauched ways.
Lord Blandford, a former junkie thief who has clawed his way back to respectability, discussed the drug delivery while showing undercover reporters around glorious Blenheim Palace.
The historic estate is owned by his father the Duke of Marlborough, who trusts his son so much that he has even given him a house in the grounds to rebuild his life.
The handover was to take place in an exclusive London club called L'Equipe Anglais, whose guests include Bono, Mick Hucknall, Naomi Campbell, David Coulthard and Leonardo DiCaprio.
There, after slipping away from his unsuspecting wife Edla, who has supported him faithfully through his rehabilitation, he told our man: "I've arranged four grams of cocaine for you. It's £60 a gram, so that's £240. And I can sort out girls for you. They'll be top-notch girls, not street hookers."
Vast
Jamie Blandford, the 47-year-old great nephew of Winston Churchill, is now the Blenheim estate's commercial director.
He books out the estate's lavish rooms and vast grounds and recently organised a Bollywood film shoot. He also arranged for Jeremy Clarkson and a BBC film crew to use Blenheim's roads to test cars for TV's Top Gear.
It is all a long way from his 80s days of disgrace. In one four-month period he blew £20,000 on cocaine, assaulted a policeman, breached probation, burgled a chemist and was banned from driving four times.
In 1993 he sold our undercover reporter Chris Blythe crack cocaine and boasted: "I'm the godfather. I'm not the street man."
His marriage to pregnant Becky Few Brown later collapsed and his father the duke disinherited him. But Blandford soon began his rise back into high society. He persuaded his father he was drug-free and last year married Welsh artist Edla Griffiths. Formula 1 racing tycoon Paddy McNally attended the wedding.
The Duke of Marlborough even allowed the newlyweds to move into Wooton Down Farm on the estate. And when Blandford was invited to join the Duchess of York at the wedding of Paddy's son Rollo to society beauty Daisy Hardman last month, he thought his makeover was complete.
A contact of the marquess told the News of the World: "They think his drug days are behind him but it's all a sham."
After a tip-off that Blandford was once more involved in cocaine, News of the World reporters investigated again.
Convinced we were TV producers interested in hiring Blenheim, he invited us to the 11,500-acre estate in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Soon Blandford bragged of his drugs contacts in London.
"Go to a club called L'Equipe Anglais and I'll give you the name of a man who'll look after all your needs," he said.
On Friday of this week he was there to meet us. "My wife's here so I'm on best behaviour," he said, laughing loudly.
Edla has told her husband she will leave him if he ever strays back to his junkie habit. But out of her earshot, he talked about the laws against possessing cocaine and added: "You've just got to be clever and not get caught."
He then grabbed our reporter's mobile phone and programmed in the number for a man called Derek.
Packet
"Derek's your man if you need girls, charlie (cocaine), anything. I've phoned him and told him you're OK," said Blandford. "It'll be good quality charlie and the girls are really nice. You only get the best."
With that, Blandford asked our men to follow him downstairs.
"I've got you a table in the VIP area," he said. "There's a waiter who'll come and see you."
Blandford then reeled off the price of four grams of cocaine and told us to pay the waiter, whom he hugged. The waiter, who calls himself Shaggy, asked our reporter: "You want four? It's £240. And the drinks are £31."
As he grabbed the money Shaggy slipped a small packet in our reporter's hand. "It'll be good quality stuff," said Blandford, rubbing his nose. "Believe me, I know my charlie!"
His action will stun his family. "They've given him every chance," said a friend. "Lord alone knows what his father will do, and poor Edla has been taken for a fool too."
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