By AIDAN KNIGHT
THE Morwell man at the centre of last year’s Lego-themed drug bust is again trying to build a case, this time for bail.
John Booth (45) was alleged to have hidden 180 kilograms of a chemical equivalent to GHB, and 34kg in chemicals used for the production of meth, across 74 boxes of Lego in his home, and four separate metro properties.
The meth alone, if manufactured, had a potential street value of $2 million. Also found among the bricks and tricks was an illegal handgun and ammunition, prohibited steroids, and other illicit substance antecedents.
The arrest was made by the Fawkner Divisional Response Unit, who had been accumulating evidence to bust Booth for four months, culminating in the execution of the five search warrants that saw his lucrative Legoland crumble.
Now, 18 months after his conviction, Booth is stacking up his bricks in the hope of being granted bail, reasoning that if granted, he will use the return to residential life to enter rehabilitation at a Shepparton facility he has named, which runs 12-week programs of that description.
Leighton Gwynn, Booth’s lawyer, made phone calls in an attempt to set up this arrangement to propose it to the court, calling Aaron Gilhooley, the manager of The Cottage Shepparton, which was then included in his bail application.
However, County Court Judge Stewart Bayles isn’t rushing to snap things together, despite Booth’s haste to click back into functioning society.
The seriousness of the Morwell man’s offending, and length of his charges list, some of which were perpetrated while already previously on bail, have led to Judge Bayles declaring that he will be required to demonstrate “exceptional circumstances” before release is granted in any capacity.
He went on to emphasise the importance of the court’s faith in the Morwell man not continuing to offend being pivotal in the granting of his bail, his case of which is “still at an early stage”.
It remains to be seen whether Booth’s bid for bail will come together, or whether his rehab plans will remain in pieces.
