Arabella Churchill dies while son Jake is jailed

Glastonbury's 'first lady' Arabella Churchill has died on the same day her son was jailed in Australia for his role in a multi-million pound drug ring. Arabella, who was the granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill and the daughter of Randolph Churchill, was 58. She was suffering from cancer. The Deb of the Year in 1967, she spurned her impressive pedigree to marry a teacher, Jim Barton, in 1972 and work for a leprosy charity. In the early Seventies she became involved with the Glastonbury festival and went on to set up the children's festival area there.

She is said to have refused chemotherapy to treat her cancer but was expected to live until next spring. Her death at home in Glastonbury came just hours after her son, Nicholas Jake Gompo Barton, 34, was jailed for three years by a Sydney court after admitting his involvement in a drug racket. Barton was arrested in June after an undercover operation by police discovered around 250,000 Ecstasy tablets with a street value of £5.4m, 18 kilos of MDMA - the powder used to make the drug - and two industrial pill presses in a series of raids.
 
In his ruling, Judge Colin Charteris acknowledged Barton's family circumstances but said the details were "of historical importance only". He added: "In determining the appropriateness of the sentence, the fact the defendant is descended from a hero of the 20th Century does not affect the sentence I must impose." ·