Churchill's granddaughter dies, son is jailed in Australia

By Rich Bowden, M&C Staff Writer Dec 21, 2007, 11:46 GMT

(M&C) - The Churchill family is mourning the death of Arabella Spencer-Churchill and the jailing of her son on drug related charges in Australia.

Mrs Spencer-Churchill, 58, died after a short illness. She was the founder of the Children's World Charity, and co-founder of the Glastonbury Festival.

Husband Ian McLeod paid tribute to Mrs Spencer-Churchill saying to the BBC, "My loss is everywhere. She was to my mind one of the few people I would lay down my life for."

The organiser of the Glastonbury Festival Sir Michael Eavis said: "Her energy, vitality, and great sense of morality and social responsibility have given her a place in our festival history second to none."

"May her place in the great eternity be always peaceful, and perhaps the mysteries of the heavens will accommodate her spirit forever," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile son Nicholas Jake Barton, 34, was sentenced to three years imprisonment after entering a guilty plea to drug dealing in Sydney, Australia.

He was arrested at his home in Australia in connection with supplying £6.5 million of ecstasy.