Henry Hendron, who has represented high-profile figures including the Earl of Cardigan, admitted at the Old Bailey to dealing the drugs which killed his 18-year-old boyfriend
A barrister who dealt the chemsex pills which killed his teenage boyfriend has been finally thrown out of the profession, after he was jailed for trying to buy drugs from his clients.
Henry Hendron’s mobile phone messages revealed he had tried to get Class A methamphetamine and then Class C GBL from Arno Smit and Ezra Benson. Hendron, 43, who had represented both men over drug supply allegations, was arrested outside Belmarsh prison in May last year while visiting Smit as his lawyer.
In 2015, he bought £1,000 of mephedrone and GBL from former BBC producer Alexander Parkin, 42, to deal ‘in bulk’ on to the gay party scene. His Colombian boyfriend Miguel Jimenez, 18, was found dead in the bedroom of his flat in London’s legal centre after they spent a night of taking chemsex drugs in January 2015.
Hendron dialled 999, but the teenager had suffered a lethal overdose of a combination of mephedrone, known as ‘meow meow’, and GBL. During a search of his flat in Pump Court in London’s famous ‘Temple’ legal district, police recovered 60 self-seal bags of mephedrone and found Hendron’s fingerprints on the jars and envelopes containing the drugs.
Hendron, who has represented high-profile figures including the Earl of Cardigan, admitted dealing the drugs at the Old Bailey in 2016 and was ordered to perform 140 hours community service. But he was only suspended by the Bar Standards Board for three years following the case after vowing he had given up drugs for good.
In March 2023, Hendron admitted three counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence and possessing a Class A drug and was jailed for 14 months at Woolwich Crown Court.
In his latest hearing the Bar Standards Board found Hendron had ‘behaved in a way which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession, and which could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity and independence.’ Commenting on the order, a BSB spokesman said: “Possessing and encouraging the supply of Class A drugs is clearly a very serious matter.
“The conduct for which Mr Hendron was convicted, including being involved in his client’s criminal activity, is clearly entirely unacceptable behaviour for a barrister and the Tribunal’s decision to disbar him reflects this.”
Hendron said in a statement: “Previous tribunals had been generous to me and given me chance after chance which by my conduct I took for granted, and in the battle with addiction I squandered those chances to my own folly. In the time it has taken to determine the bar disciplinary process I have used in trying to come to terms with the inevitable prospect disbarment and of losing the profession I have spent my life serving and love. I fully endorse the sanction of disbarment handed to me today, it was the right sanction to impose.”
Hendron was also ordered to pay £2,670 costs.
