My solid, reliable dad became Britain’s most notorious crystal meth dealer – just like Walter White in Breaking Bad

TO his family, opera loving coin trader Richard Lubbock was as sensible as you could get. He didn’t smoke or drink, his preferred tipple was Earl Grey tea and the closest he’d come to being in trouble with the law was a speeding ticket.

So it came as some what of a shock to son James when, following his split from his wife, Richard came out as gay, got into hardcore raving and eventually started dealing crystal meth.

In fact, Richard would eventually get nailed by police for the biggest ever haul of crystal meth in British history - and admit that he even did the drug with superstar George Michael.

James, 41, told The Sun: “I look back on it as a nightmare that I can’t really believe happened. At the time there was a lot of anger towards dad because he was doing a terrible thing.

“Just before he was raided he was so ill I thought he’d be dead in six months.”

The software consultant has written a book, Breaking Dad, about the experience of seeing his “solid, reliable” father transform into a drug addicted mess.

He is in talks with both film companies and TV producers about adapting the remarkable story for the screen - with many noting its similarity to the hit US drama Breaking Bad, about mild mannered chemistry teacher turned meth dealer Walter White.

The book tells how Richard split from James’s mum, Marilyn, moved out of their suburban home in North West London and suffered a very dangerous, late life crisis.

The 'important news' that changed everything

Embracing his new found identity, Richard shaved his head, started going to clubs, wearing tank tops, smoking cannabis and taking ecstasy.

Soon he moved on to the far more addictive crystal meth, which he not only encouraged his son to try, but he also shared with pop star George Michael.

With things spiralling totally out of control Richard put black bin bags on the windows of his trendy east London apartment to hide from the world that he was selling the white crystalline drug day and night.

When the police smashed down the door of the pad in 2009 in an armed raid they found £1.5million worth of crystal meth.

And 62-year-old Richard was convicted as a most unconventional Mr Big.

Growing up, the worst offence Richard committed as far as his son was concerned was telling the same bad dad jokes over and over again.

When James was 19 his mum and dad separated following 20 years of marriage in what was an ”amicable split.”

Seven years later, in 2003, James discovered why their marriage hadn’t worked out - both his parents were gay.

His dad invited him to a restaurant with “important news” and never in a million years would James have guessed that was going to be the revelation.

James says: “I didn’t see it coming. He was a bit of a ladies man, loads of women flocked to him, he was a good raconteur. I thought it was a positive thing that he came out, it meant he could be who he really was.”

That was a relief to Richard, who had been incredibly nervous about revealing his real sexuality.

The 72-year-old retired businessman explains: “Telling my son I was gay was probably the most difficult thing I have had to do. I wasn’t proud of it.”

Then two weeks later James’s mum invited him for lunch at a restaurant, ironically called the Gay Hussar, to come out as well.

James recalls: “She had already moved in with her long term partner Ruth. I thought it was a little bit unusual, but I thought they are probably both lonely and they were good friends.

“She said ‘we’re more than friends, I’m gay too.’”

Remarkably, neither Richard nor Marilyn could believe the other one was gay. They’d gone through their marriage oblivious to their true leanings.

'My dad was on ecstasy, pogoing up and down with a girl'

The new life as a single man was the catalyst for Richard’s descent into a world of drugs.

He says: “I was away in South Africa on a business trip and gay friends invited me to a party and they said ‘you have to take a pill.’ I didn’t know what that meant.

“When I took the pill I thought I was dying. I couldn’t move, but then a friend helped me. It was ecstasy.”

As a young, single man James wasn’t adverse to dabbling with cannabis and ecstasy during the rave explosion of the nineties.

But he would never have expected his ageing dad to invite him to a trance and hard house night at The Fridge club in Brixton, south London.

After initially saying no, James’s friend dragged him along.

Still looking traumatised by the experience a decade on, James says: “I went in there and there he was in his tank top pogoing up and down with a girl who was more our age.

“He was obviously on E at the time. I was cringing a bit.”

The more time James spent with his dad, the more worried he became about his strange behaviour.

First he saw a huge bag of cannabis in his dad’s flat, which made him worry he was dealing, and then during a trip to Los Angeles together his dad took crystal meth at a rock gig.

Back then it was a relatively new drug and James hadn’t heard of it.

Richard quickly became addicted to the illegal substance which cost £100 a gram.

He said: “It got more and more. I was dependent on it.”

Crystal meth with George Michael

Drawn further into the scene, he met more and more people using meth pipes. They included George Michael, whose house in Hampstead, London, he visited with a friend.

The problem was classical music fan Richard had no idea who the 115 million record selling artist was.
Richard smiles: “I said to him ‘play me some tracks of yours.’ He said ‘you might know this.’ I just didn’t know them.”

Biggest regret was offering son drugs

Taking crystal meth with a well known abuser of drugs was one thing - but offering it to his son was another.

The younger Lubbock had seen the pipe in his dad’s flat and the senior one asked: “Do you want to try some?”

Being curious and in a ‘who cares?’ state of mind, James said yes.

He says: “I thought it might be an interesting father son bonding experience.”

To this day, it remains his dad’s deepest regret.

Richard confesses: “One feeling upsets me more than anything, and it was ‘how could I do that? How could I offer crystal meth to my son?’”

Went off rails after ex-wife's death

While James managed to keep his life together, never getting hooked on drugs, his dad’s addiction only got worse.

When Marilyn, who he still loved and never divorced, died from ovarian cancer at the age of 60 in 2008 Richard went totally off the rails.

James says: “His health was deteriorating rapidly. He was bed ridden with gum infections.”

All efforts to convince his dad to slow down, or at least stop dealing, fell on deaf ears.

Richard did little to hide the extent of his drug operation, with people openly coming in and out of his flat at all times of the day.

He says: “Friday night, Saturday night I couldn’t get out of my flat so many people were buying drugs.

I used to joke, some joke, ‘I feel like I’m in a prison here.’ I didn’t expect for one second I’d go to prison, even though others were warning me I would.”

'Prison saved my life'

He wasn’t the only middle class, older person risking his life by inhaling the banned substance, with his customers including professionals and civil servants.

But the police were onto him and in December 2009 they raided his Limehouse flat.

When he appeared in court he pleaded guilty and was handed an eight year prison sentence.

Time inside was exactly what this mixed-up dealer needed.

He explains: “I didn’t expect to live for more than a week in prison, but the absence of the drug I couldn’t do without was what I needed. I think prison saved my life.”

Richard proved to be a model prisoner, helping as an English teaching assistant and getting on well with the other prisoners.

After four years he was released from jail and meeting this politely spoken man today you wouldn’t suspect his criminal past.

Despite all the stress and pain, father and son have become closer due to what they went through.
James concludes: “It was a short period when he was a bad dad.”

Breaking Dad, published by Mirror Books, is in book shops now.