Rolling Stones And The Redland Bust

Rockapedia | 31st Mar, 2023

On 12th February, 1967 Keith Richards and a group of friends where interrupted by the Sussex police, headed by Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher.

Claiming that drugs where being used on the premises the police entered with a search warrant.

Richards later described in his autobiography:

there's a knock on the door, I look out the window, and there's this whole lot of dwarves outside...I'd never been busted before, and I'm still on acid

Drug Possession

After ram-shacking the house police discovered four pep pills in a green velvet jacket which Jagger claimed was his (they belonged Marianne Faithfull’s).

Also noted on the premises was a naked woman, named as Miss X, wrapped only in a fur rug, (also Marianne). Art dealer Robert Fraser was present at the gathering and was caught in possession of heroin tablets.

No arrests were made at the time, but Jagger, Richards and Fraser would be subsequently charged with drug offenses.

Trial

Jagger, Richards and Fraiser were on trial 27-29th June. Jagger had spent the night of his trial, before sentencing, at Lewes Prison.

The Stones had been labeled public enemy No.1 and it didnt take the jury long to come to a decision.

Jagger was found guilty for the possession of the pills, fined £100, and sentenced to three months in jail.

Richards was found guilty of allowing people to smoke hashish in his home, fined £500, and sentenced to one year in jail.

Fraser was found guilty of possession of heroin, fined £200, and sentenced to six months in jail.

Public Reaction

Richards would spend the night at Wormwood Scrubs, with Jagger and Fraser going to Brixton Jail.

The next day, public opinion was beginning to change towards the strict sentencing on such flimsy charges. There was a protest outside the courthouse while The Who released two Rolling Stones songs to keep the bands name in the public eye.

Release

A doctor testified that he gave Jagger a prescription for the pills. Another fact brought out at the trial by Richards was that the Stones felt they had been set up by The News of the World.

Jagger and Richards would be released on bail. A month later, on July 31,1967, Lord Parker, the Lord Chief Justice at London Appeal Court, dismissed the charges against Keith, giving Mick a conditional discharge. Only Robert Fraser went to jail.

Sgt Pilcher

Norman Pilcher became infamous for arresting a number of celebrities during the 1960s on drug charges, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones.

Other well known names Pilcher arrested where Donovan, George Harrison and John Lennon.

Eric Clapton was nearly arrested at Londons, The Pheasantry, but escaped from the rear of the building when Pilcher rang the doorbell to announce postman, special delivery.

Several celebrities would claim Detective Sergeant Pilcher had framed them, or was only carrying out raids and arrests to satisfy the tabloid newspapers.

As is evident from reports in the alternative press and histories of that time, it was widely believed that Pilcher was frequently planting the drugs his victims were convicted of possessing, though this has never been proven.

On 8 November 1972, Pilcher was charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after it was alleged he had committed perjury.

He resigned from the police force before the case came to court and was later convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment, with the judge admonishing the disgraced ex-policeman, You poisoned the wells of criminal justice, and set about it deliberately.

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