Tabloid Fail

Yes, Whispers is about to cast nastursions on our media counterparts, imperfect vessel that we are, but Prince Harry & Meghan Markle announced just days ago that young Prince Archie Windsor can expect a sister or brother in the near future. But the Aussie tabloid magazine No Idea New Idea announced on the very same day that the loving California based couple had split. Well what would we know?. Perhaps it's true. I'm sure all shall be revealed this Monday in their next editon. Perhaps they know better than this scribe. Afterall we've been out of the loop for a while with endless lockdowns. It was only just late last year that New Idea announced that Prince Harry had been deported from the USA ( as seen in this cover pic with the Brad /Jen tale). Perhaps the current one is a clone? Is this a QAnon conspiracy revelation? Of course the same glitzy show biz mag also announced that hunky actor Brad Pitt was back living with Jennifer Aniston just as he arrived in Venice with gorgeous model Nicole Poturalski. Who knows..it could all be true.!

exclusive: Marie's revelation about the Princess Diana momento

Princess Diana & the late Marie Sutton in Sydney

Marie Sutton was the ex-nurse who conceived of a plan in 1995 to bring the late Princess Diana to Sydney to launch a new charity and medical research facility, the Victor Chang Institute. Victor Chang was a world renowned heart surgeon who was gunned down in a Sydney street by two thugs in a failed kidnap and ransom plot.

Much to Sutton's surprise, and the establishment figures behind her plan, Princess Diana phoned Sutton and said she would be happy to launch the institute and it would be her very last charity appearance before retiring to private life.
And the rest is history.

The Shuttle has written extensively about Marie Sutton over the years- she was fairly good pal having met her at various events in Sydney during Diana's visit.
You can read those tales here : 'Princess Diana broke up my marriage' 

and :  'Marie turns down a $1.6M for the "Diana Diaries'.
But there is one piece of information Marie Sutton told Whispers which we have never revealed before and promised not to while Sutton was alive. Marie passed away at age 73 in September from lung disease.
Only half a dozen people have ever been onto the island at Althorp, the family seat, which is where Diana's grave is. On a visit to Althorp Marie was escorted to the island by Diana's brother Earl Charles Spencer in 1997. And there she found a small memento placed on Diana's grave by her two sons.
It was a small silver box inside which was a locket containing a photo of Diana and her two sons William and Harry. It was to be buried with her coffin and had been placed there in a private ceremony by the boys.

Only a handful of people have ever been to the island where Princess Diana is buried. Marie Sutton was one of them.

Meghan Markle says the Mail distorted her father's letter

Click on link:

Meghan Markle Claims Mail Suppressed Key Parts of Her Letter to her Father About 'Exploitation by British Tabloid

Quelle Horreur !

An almighty row has broken out after the UK gay & lesbian publication Pink News labelled Prince

George as a "gay icon".
Really?. He looks more to Whispers ( as does Princess Charlotte) as delightfully 1950s in that Windsor way. Surely his Father Prince William and uncle Prince Harry are obvious candidates for gay icons.
Anyhow our aging NSW parliamentarian the Reverend Fred Nile is completely outraged and says :  “The article is an underhanded attempt at promoting a divisive agenda of radical social reform by abusing the symbolism of the Royal Family. No child, especially a potential future Monarch, should be exploited for ideological purposes in this way."

Heaven forbid that Australia's (and the Commonwealth's) Royal Family should ever be exploited for ideological purposes.
What to make of this budding scandal? We have no idea.

Disclosure : Whispers once interviewed the Reverend Fred in his NSW Parliament office. He was most friendly, pouring tea and offering biscuits but as we were about to depart he insisted we join his Parliamentary prayer group with his Christian Democratic Party colleagues. A Bible placed in our hand and a gentle shove in the back made it clear a refusal would not be accepted.

We are most honoured to say that the Reverend Fred Nile prayed to The Lord and requested He (She)  place Whispers into his (her) gentle arms when That Time comes.

The Palace issues a warning..

Marie to tell All about Princess Diana

2017 will be the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales who died in Paris after a car accident with Dodi Fayed, the heir to the owner of Harrods, Mohamed Fayed.

Now the Australian charity worker Marie Sutton who engineered the very last public function attended by Diana in Sydney is to author a book on the tumultuous visit to Australia that marked Diana's retreat from public life. A few months later Diana was dead after a world-wind supposed affair with the tempestuous Dodi in the South of France.

Whispers knew Dodi well and lived in his Park Lane apartment for 3 months. Dodi's cocaine habit was legendary and Whispers, a non drug user, once saved the life of the secretary of a famous movie star in Dodi's apartment while Fayed and the movie star were literally, off their heads on cocaine.
                                                                         
Marie conceived of the project to get Diana to launch the Victor Chang Institute on the strength of being a pal of Dr Hasnat Khan who reputedly Diana was obsessed with. Once Diana agreed to come to Australia Sutton found the reins of the visit were snatched from her by then NSW premier Nevile Wran and a coterie of Eastern Suburb's society figures. But Diana remained loyal to Sutton and ensured Marie was by her side at every event during the visit. And we should know. We were there at the same time, once hiding under a rug in the back of a limo with Diana as she was whisked out of the Double Bay Ritz Carlton, avoiding the world's assembled media. It was on that occasion that Diana leaned out of the window of the car as we passed St Mary's Cathedral and she spotted a wedding party ascending the stairs and shouted "Don't do it !". Did the happy couple realize their heckler was the World's Most Famous Woman? . Marie also has the only known photos of Diana's grave on an island at the family property Althorp with some very touching mementos from her sons Princes William & Harry. Having seen them, Whispers has been sworn to secrecy but perhaps they will appear in Marie's expose.

And so it came to pass

Princes Harry & William were there as was our own princess Kylie Minogue. And this couple finally fronted the cameras : Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall.  Read all about it in the MailOnline.

Princess Diana's Aussie pal may write a book

Diana & Sutton

Chatting to Marie Sutton at the Darling Point morning event to launch the AGCF cancer charity (see above) brought some new revelations about the late Princess Diana's last visit to Australia in 1996 to launch the Victor Chang Institute. The visit  was to be Diana's final charity contribution before retiring to private life. Subsequent events have become history but Mrs Sutton revealed that she is seriously contemplating writing a book on her battle to maintain control over the plan which she conceived after contacting her friend Dr Hasnat Khan who was Diana's secret lover.

'My husband Bill kept incredible detailed diaries about the battle I had' says Marie. "Powerful people were desperate to seize control because of Diana's profile but she remained loyal to me". It is no secret that having conceived of the plan, Sutton found herself under intense pressure from figures like the late Nevile Wran who tried to wrestle control from her.

Whispers was lucky to accompany Sutton & Princess Diana on the tour and can confirm that Diana remained steadfastly loyal to her Aussie pal & was fully aware of the political machinations around her visit. When Diana died (and Whispers also had a connection to the late Dodi Fayed having lived in his Park Lane apartment for 3 months during the early 80s) Marie was rewarded by Diana's brother the Earl of Spencer with a personal tour of Diana's resting place on an island in the middle of the Althorp estate. Visitors cannot access the island and trees have been grown to prevent aerial photography of the grave. Marie took some photographs of Diana's resting place which had some extremely touching personal mementos placed upon the grave by her sons William & Harry. Although we have seen the snaps we are sworn to secrecy to never reveal what the items were. Sutton is still offered a small fortune by European publications for the photos.
A book on Sutton's Diana exploits would make fascinating reading.

London Life

While our captains of industry were settling their differences in a street punch-up, HRH Prince Harry was putting his time to good use and attended his annual charity event the Sentebale Summer Party at the Dorchester Hotel  in London,as our exclusive snaps show. Above Harry is seen with Malineo Motsephe (left) and Joss Stone. Joss is a patron of the charity.
The evening was to mark 10 years since Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho made a commitment to helping the vulnerable children of that landlocked African nation.
In 2004, Prince Harry visited the country on his gap year and was shown around the country by Prince Seeiso. Overwhelmed by the poverty and hardship faced by many children together they decided to set up Sentebale, which means ‘forget me not’ in Sesotho, with the aim of giving some of the most vulnerable children the chance of a happy, hopeful future.
## During the 1980s the Shuttle lived next door to the Lesotho Embassy in Kensington. So impoverished is the country that our apartment was far grander than the Embassy.
 ### James Packer and David Gyngell might like to make a donation to Sentebale here.
Packer is worth around $7Billion and Gyngell is on a salary of about $10Million a year.

 

Taking Over

Judy & Michael McMahon                   Cristian & Jane King    

The popular Eastern Suburb's newspaper Latte Life continues in it's campaign to become the area's most read newspaper now distributing over 50,000 copies from Watsons Bay to Surry Hills, outstripping it's Fairfax rival. And it's only taken 3 short years.

Shari Lee Hitchcock & Dallen Nickols,Aaron Zerefos and pal

Under the stewardship of publisher Jane King, Latte Life began as a newsletter and quickly morphed into a newspaper which breaks stories- the latest issue with an exclusive tale on a security lapse during the recent visit of HRH Prince Harry and a shocking expose about foreign students being forced to clean offices for no pay. Plus a few ruffled feathers with Wentworth MP Malcolm Turnbull a bit miffed about a story from the last issue.
 All this success was a good reason to throw a birthday bash at the exclusive Hugo's Lounge in Kings Cross and naturally the Shuttle was only too happy to celebrate along with friends, staff and advertisers. Joining the throng, Watson Bay party gal Shari Lee Hitchcock, Theo Onosforou, Rose Bay restaurant owners Michael & Judy McMahon, Fiji Water honcho Aaron Zerefos and cartoonist Mike Lodge.
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Lord Mayor Clover Moore hosted and SBS presenter Lee Lin Chin officiated at a party to launch the City of Sydney's Asia On Your Doorstep, a celebration of the amazing and inviting variety of Asian restaurants on offer in the Emerald City.
In the recently decorated and very grand Lord Mayor’s Reception Room at Sydney Town Hall, Consuls and Ambassadors from a number of our Asian neighbours joined locals like Kerri Anne Kennerly , PR powerhouse Deidre O'Loghlin, Glen Marie Frost, NSW Tourism Minister George Souris MP and Masterchef winner Adam Liaw, along with top foodies Joanna Savill, Maeve O'Meara, some media types like Susie Elelman and Indira Naidoo and one of Sydney's nicest couples, Sir James & Lady Hardy.

Susie Elelman & Adam Liau           Clover Moore & George Souris MP      Sir James & Lady Hardy, Di Hamill

                                                                                 

 Lee Lin Chin must be the most elegantly dressed newsreader on Australian TV as you can see from our pic here with Indira Naidoo- and note  her superb Jimmy Choo pumps.


Go to the official Asia On Your Doorstep website to find participating venues and you could win a trip to Thailand. 

Earth to Sydney's Gossip Writers (& Popbitch)

HRH Prince Henry of Wales (known as Prince Harry was never ever going to go to a Sydney nightclub and most especially, one in Kings Cross whose owners have a less than stellar background.
Harry was here on an official visit representing his mother HM The Queen of Australia. There is such a thing as protocol (look it up). There were no security details checking out nightspots. It just wasn't going to happen.
Indeed members of the Royal Family do not go to downmarket nightclubs (which would be most of the ones in Sydney). After 20 years of covering the social scene in London for a variety of British & European publications the Shuttle never once spotted a Royal in a nightclub that wasn't 'approved'-Annabels, Tramp and maybe Maunkberrys and that's about it.  You should know better.

Prince Harry & The Ladies

A smiling HRH Prince Harry with 2 of our leading ladies at yesterday's naval celebrations- Lord Mayor Clover Moore on the left and the Governor General Quentin Bryce on the right. The Shuttle can report that far from partying last night as many columnists predicted Harry stayed indoors whilst  Harry Styles had about a dozen guests in his room at the Park Hyatt to watch the fireworks as no doubt, will Harry Windsor.

Topless Kate Middleton Pics & an Aussie Connection

William & Kate in Malaysia

While the brouhaha over the topless photographs of HRH The Duchess of Cambridge gets more dramatic by the day, an Australian connection is emerging.

A fortnight ago Bauer Media, Europe's largest privately owned publishing firm purchased Australia's largest magazine empire ACP for around $500M. Bauer Media also own the Closer brand of magazines. The topless photographs have been published in the French edition of Closer and the editor is unrepentant with reports now emerging that there are further pics to be published next  week.

Bauer have issued a statement deploring the use of the topless photographs of Kate Middleton and have complained to the magazine but the French edition is published under license by an Italian publisher Mondadori.

Bauer CEO Paul Keenan says he has asked Closer to remove the pics : "We deplore the publication of these intrusive and offensive pictures and have asked that Closer France takes these pictures down immediately from its website and desist from publishing any further pictures"'. Bauer are said to be reviewing the Closer license with Mondadori.
                                                                                                                           
Where does this leave the Australian Woman's Day, the biggest selling weekly magazine and new Baeur acquisition ?. WD is in fierce competition with New Idea (owned by billionaire Kerry Stokes' Pacific Magazines) and barely a week goes by without the 2 glossies running a feature on Prince William and Kate. A month ago we can imagine a bidding war would have erupted between the 2 mags for the topless photos. New Idea was the first to breach an agreement, not to mention that Prince Harry was serving in Afghanistan in 2008.

The Shuttle has worked on a number of occasions with the British royals including the late Princess Diana on her last visit to Australia. We once attended a dinner for HRH Prince Edward at Lady Mary Fairfax's pile Fairwater. Twenty guests had paid $10,000 each for the privilege of dining with Edward (the money went to charity) with the promise of a snap with the royal. The Shuttle obliged but not before an arrangement was made with Edward's minders- 2 charming but lethal looking gentleman from Scotland Yard's Royal Protection Squad. The Shuttle was to be searched before we left the function to ensure we had not taken any covert pics of Edward, perhaps rubbing his bald spot and so on. We were happy to oblige.
But where were Kate Middleton's minders while she was holidaying in France and for that matter, Prince Harry's when he was in Las Vegas ?.

Shock Nude Photo of Prince Harry- and he's a Hunk!

Two outrageous snaps of the Royals-the hunky abs of HRH Prince Harry and Mike Tyndall, husband of HRH Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips having it off with that blond in New Zealand.

They are of course pics from the brilliant photographer Alison Jackson who has a new book on Royal look-a-likes available here and at her website. Go to Alison's website for more fun.

Sharon Sargeant Special

A brown paper parcel lands upon the Shuttle's desk and a mid-year (July '11 to July '12) calendar is revealed. But what a calendar!.

It's the latest offering from one of Sydney's most popular party girls Sharon Sargeant and to say it reveals many of Ms Sargeant's charms is an understatement.

Apparently the calendars are selling like hot cakes and each one comes with a personal note signed by Sharon.

Regular readers may recall Ms Sargeant first came to prominence when it was announced that she and the world's most famous private eye Frank Monte had become engaged over a long lunch at the uber smart restaurant Ottos in Woolloomooloo, not so long ago.

Monte & Sargeant (Getty)

Then the paparazzi snapped her having suffered a wardrobe malfunction and partying in Potts Point with pals after attending a Lady Ga Ga gig while Monte was in the USA. Soon she was discovered gate crashing a porn convention in Las Vegas and was photographed dancing with one of America's reining porn queens Claudia-Marie (a strong constitution is needed if you dare visit her website).

Weeks later Britain's Daily Mirror tabloid splashed even more pics across their pages with Ms Sargeant pictured escorting the British Rugby Team (then touring Australia and accompanied by Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips and her fiance Mike Tindall) to a million dollar gin palace and waving them off as they departed for a harbour cruise accompanied by some scantily clad lasses. Rugby bosses scrambled to assure the public it was an innocent outing.

UK Sunday Mirror

More shocking news when the Daily Telegraph exposed Sharon as the owner of an escort agency. But there's more than  meets the eye to this gal. Sargeant later on-sold the agency for a tidy sum to an American corporation and was spotted recently tooling around Bondi Beach and Double Bay in a gleaming black Ferrari. a gift to herself from the sale proceeds.

Now Sharon, who has been learning some nifty dance routines along side Lara Bingle ( left with Sharon) has been hailed by no less than the US Army. The US 509th Airborne Infantry have invited Sharon to be their mascot for the year and supply the troops in Afghanistan with a series of patriotic photographs to keep morale boosted on the long and lonely nights.
Our snap above and opposite are censored versions of what our US allies will be feasting their eyes upon and the calendar contains similar.

And after one snap appeared on Facebook, a British army unit has requested the same !. But is it Prince Harry's unit ?. He's partial to blonde's. The mind boggles.


You can order Sharon's calendar here...and you could always send one to our boys in Iraq and Afghanistan .

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Z-Sydney super yachts.com

Read It Here First : it's been 6 months since the Social Shuttle revealed that the luxury floating palace Z-Sydney owned by media mogul and billionaire James Packer would soon be for sale and so it has come to pass as reported in today's Sydney Morning Herald. The shining tub has played host to many Hollywood movie stars when they visit Sydney including Tom Cruise, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. It's your for around $22M.

exclusive : HRH Prince Andrew To Be Appointed Governor of NSW

The fun-loving but  troubled British royal HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York is to be appointed Governor of NSW by the new premier Barry O'Farrell, taking up his appointment in November this year when the current incumbent Marie Bashir retires.

The official announcement is expected to be made by HRH The Queen when she visits the country in October for the CHOGM conference. And the O'Farrell family and royal family have been linked by an incident from over 140 years ago (see below).

O'Farrell has always said that Government House, perched high above the Opera House with it's sensational views of Sydney Harbour would be rightfully restored as the Governor's home if he won the election. With his convincing win on Saturday when the Coalition swept into power with 68 seats to Labor's 20, the new premier has a mandate to implement most of his policies.

It's been 15 years since former premier Bob Carr closed the Governor's mansion . Since then it's been available for everything-weddings, parties , barmitzvahs and so on. The Coalition has always claimed it was a scandal and the Monarchist's League has been outraged that NSW Governors would live in their own homes rather than the official residence.

Although ex-convict architect Francis Greenaway was originally commissioned to design Government House it was eventually built by English architect  Edward Blore and finished in 1890.

 Blore working in the romantic Gothic style, produced a mock castle which matched the crenellations of the existing nearby Greenway stables. The new building immediately became the talk of the town and helped establish the romantic Regency style in residential architecture which became popular in the colony over the next twenty years.

Prince Andrew, a man used to luxury and who has been the butt of numerous scandalous tales in the British media over his association with the New York millionaire Jeffrey Epstein should feel right at home in his new abode. It has style and plenty of space and beautiful gardens for entertaining on a large scale. With maids, butlers and 2 Royal Equerries plus his own staff and several official limousines he will want for nothing.

There are 28 rooms and the large reception area is a richly decorated two-storey hall with a musicians gallery. Government House also reputedly introduced the first modern water closet to Australia. The porte-coche was added in 1873, and the two front rooms extended about 1900. Although there had been earlier proposals (c.1900) to move the vestigial Governor into more modest premises, it was not until 1996 that this finally occurred under the premiership of Carr.

Numerous Royals have stayed there in the past including The Queen and Prince Phillip and Prince Charles and Diana when they were together and Pope Benedict slept there for 2 nights in 2008.



Jane & Sarah

It's been long rumoured amongst royal circles in the UK that Andrew would have to packed off somewhere sensible to re-create his crumbling public image. A spell as Governor of NSW for the normal 4 year appointment would seem the ideal solution.

And he should feel right at home. Sister-in-law Jane Ferguson lives a short drive away in Bondi and ex-wife Fergie is a regular visitor.

There are plenty of nightclubs and attractions for the Andrew's fun loving daughters should they visit and if Andy wants a casual drink there's always the Lord Dudley pub in Woolahra, a favourite of Prince Harry.

Andrew's appointment follows in a tradition of packing off Royals to the colonies for further education and royal duties.



a depiction of the attempted assassination: National Gallery



The

1867 visit of Queen Victoria's son Prince Alfred to Australia was the first by a member of the British Royal family and was tumultuous, to say the least.

It produced an outpouring of national exaltation and then of national shame following an assassination attempt on the Prince.

 On 12 March 1868 an  ancestor of the new premier-Henry James O'Farrell shot the Prince in the back at a public function in Clontarf, Sydney. O'Farrell was immediately arrested, and was convicted and hanged on 21 April that same year.

Will Royal watering hole feature in new TV drama?

Sharon in Las Vegas

Following our exclusive set of photographs supplied from our Las Vegas operative showing the fiancee of private investigator Frank Monte, the buxom Sharon Sargeant dancing with a US porn star at an adult industry convention, the 2 have split within days of the snaps being featured in a double page spread in the Daily Telegraph. The following day the editor of the Tele's Sydney Confidential, Annette Sharp  revealed that Sargeant was the marketing manager of an escort agency Red Velvet Models

Whilst the escort business is entirely legal, Monte has issued an announcement that because of his high profile in the investigation business both here and the USA, he didn't feel he could be associated with an escort business as his mainly corporate clientele demand complete discretion.

Frank Monte interviewed by Larry King

The pair have now split with Sargeant moving out of Monte's Potts Point Ikon apartment to stay with a girlfriend in Mosman. Monte has said the affair is on hold until Sargeant divests herself of her business and seeks alternative employment. Today Monte flew out to Los Angeles.

                                
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Next Tuesday the new program Australian Druglords premiers on Channel Nine and already many of the residents of Sydney's exclusive Eastern Suburbs are trembling with fear.

The first show concentrates on the cocaine dealer Richard Buttrose who was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 16 years this March.

Buttrose is the nephew of high profile TV and publishing identity Ita Buttrose and came from a well off Vaucluse family and attended the elite Cranbrook school. He would drink at the Woollahra pub, the Lord Dudley, a favourite of several of Britain's younger royal family members including Prince Harry and Peter and Zara Phillips. When in town the young royals stay with James Erskine the boss of Sports & Entertainment Ltd who look after a host of personalities like Michael Parkinson, Shane Warne and tennis ace Todd Woodbridge, Erskine is an old friend of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips.

Richard Buttrose

Buttrose would wait at the Lord Dudley for clients to call on his mobile phone and then arrange to meet them directly across the road in a parking lot to do his drug deals. When police stopped him in his Mercedes shortly after a deal, they found 300 names in a little black book, thought to be clients and 6 kilos of cocaine. Later searching his several properties they found nearly $1.3M in cash.

The Druglords film will show police footage of the arrest and the search of his house and it's claimed, at least 6 names who may have been his customers. They are said to include a politician and lawyers.

In fear of his life from drug suppliers said to be connected to the Russian Mafia, Buttrose is serving his time in protective custody.

                                 

Fear and loathing in Prince Harry's favourite drinking haunt

Richard Buttrose

With the leaked news that the NSW police have set up the covert Strike Force Harbour to investigate clients of the millionaire drug dealer Richard Buttrose, trembling has been felt afar and phones are running hot throughout Sydney's well heeled eastern suburbs as news that his 'little black book' in the form of a mobile phone containing client's phone numbers is being examined.

Buttrose, the nephew of TV and publishing identity Ita Buttrose was arrested in a sting operation when he sold cocaine to an undercover officer in a bowling club cark park near the Lord Dudley Hotel in ritzy Woollahra in 2009. When his car was pulled over by police shortly after he was found in possession of bags of cocaine. Matters took a turn for the worse when detectives raided a Paddington apartment rented by Buttrose and found another 6 grams of the drug and $1.3M in cash hidden beneath floorboards.

It was common knowledge that Buttrose was "the man" who offered a steady supply of cocaine at all hours.

The Lord Dudley was Richard's local boozer and a favourite of society swells and rich youngsters and a regular drinking spot of Prince Harry and his royal cousins Peter and Zara Phillips who stay at the Vaucluse house of James Erskine, a friend of Princess Anne and a business partner of British theatre mogul Sir Cameron Mackintosh.

Buttrose had been under investigation since 2008 but now detectives are probing his customer's identities that rumours say include film stars, musicians, a leading lawyer and a prominent member of Parliament although as owner of several popular restaurants there could be a perfectly innocent reason for anyone's phone number to be in Buttrose's phone.

Most who heard of Buttrose's activities thought it was just a matter of time before he was busted. He was encroaching on turf usually dominated by Middle Eastern and biker gangs and a newly emerging Russian mafia that has begun to proliferate in QLD's Surfer's Paradise. One tale tells of Buttrose being flown into Surfers by private jet to supply a group of Russian "entrepreneurs" eyeing the place as a potential investment town. Tales are flying thick and fast and it's difficult to tell what is fact and fantasy. We may never know the real tale because as Butttrose has pleaded guilty, there won't be a lengthy trial.

Along with Buttrose, 32 year old Nathan Lea, an heir to the Darrel Lea chocolate empire was also arrested and pleaded guilty to a low level possession charge, receiving a six month suspended sentence.

Buttrose has been singing like a canary in a bid to lessen what could be a long jail sentence. The National Crime Commission has confiscated $2.2M in assets from him. His lawyer Martin Luitingh told the court last Friday that his client's life was in danger both in jail and when he finally emerges and this should be taken into account when he is sentenced. The judge seems to buying none of this and has pointed to the amount of money Buttrose had made from his crimes.

Richard's father was the well liked investment advisor and banker Will Buttrose who appeared regularly on TV and radio giving money advice. He died of cancer in 2005. His aunt Ita was a close friend of Kerry Packer and editor of both the Sunday Telegraph newspaper and Australia's largest selling magazine the Women's Weekly before she retired to concentrate on raising funds for AID's research. An uncle was the public relations manager for the NSW police.

None of the Buttrose family are talking to the media but sister Lizzie, the close friend  of the late billionaire Dick Pratt's mistress Shari-Lea Hitchcock is said to be distraught at her brother's plight as she is particularly close to him. Richard Buttrose pleaded guilty to 2 supply charges and will be sentenced later this month.

Meanwhile, the drug trade continues unabated as the vacuum is filled almost overnight.