Woolwich barrister disbarred for trying to buy drugs

Henry Hendron, 42, was jailed for 14 months last June after he asked to buy to buy Class A methamphetamine and then-Class C GBL from Arno Smit and Ezra Benson.    

Hendron, who had represented both men over drug supply allegations, was arrested outside Belmarsh prison in May last year while visiting Smit as his lawyer.   

An independent disciplinary tribunal concluded on July 3 that Hendron should be disbarred. 

A BSB spokesperson 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.” 

Previously a court heard Hendron had asked to buy drugs from Smit in September 2021 - just weeks before his client was arrested.   

He then represented Smit at the police station, the magistrates’ court and at Woolwich Crown Court, where his client entered not guilty pleas in November 2021 but was later jailed.   

Hendron pleaded guilty to three counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence and one count of possessing Class A drugs.    

Sentencing judge Jonathan Mann KC said: “You were messaging a client of yours who was later to face crown court proceedings for supply of drugs, you were encouraging him to supply you with drugs, then went to court to represent him.”  

Henry Hendron (Image: Met Police) Hendron, who was called to the Bar in 2006, was known for representing prominent clients including the Earl of Cardigan.   

According to reports, in 2009 he acted in a civil matter for then Tory MP Ms Dorries, 66, who later served as culture secretary in Boris Johnson’s government and quit as an MP last Friday after missing out on a peerage in the ex-prime minister’s resignation honours.   

But Hendron’s career floundered after his 18-year-old boyfriend Miguel Jimenez was found dead at the flat the couple shared in Pump Court, Temple, in the City of London, after taking a lethal cocktail of so-called chemsex party drugs.   

He admitted buying £1,000 worth of M-cat or Meow Meow and GBL from award-winning BBC producer Alex Parkin and was handed a community order with 140 hours of unpaid work at the Old Bailey in 2016. Parkin was sentenced to 200 hours.   

Hendron, from Soho, central London, was suspended by the Bar Standards Board for three years following his 2016 convictions.   

He was reprimanded and prohibited from undertaking public access work for two years following a disciplinary hearing in 2021 after holding himself out as a barrister on websites while suspended.