The Rolling Stones' Redlands bust

In early 1967, Jagger, Richards and Jones began to be hounded by authorities over their recreational drug use, after the News of the World ran a three-part feature entitled "Pop Stars and Drugs: Facts That Will Shock You".[13] The series described alleged LSD parties hosted by the Moody Blues attended by top stars including the Who's Pete Townshend and Cream's Ginger Baker, and alleged admissions of drug use by leading pop musicians. The first article targeted Donovan (who was raided and charged soon after); the second instalment (published on 5 February) targeted the Rolling Stones.[14] A reporter who contributed to the story spent an evening at the exclusive London club Blaise's, where a member of the Rolling Stones allegedly took several Benzedrine tablets, displayed a piece of hashish and invited his companions back to his flat for a "smoke". The article claimed this was Mick Jagger, but it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity; the reporter had in fact been eavesdropping on Brian Jones. Two days after the article was published Jagger filed a writ for libel against the News of the World.[15][14] It is likely, suggest Trynka, that by the time the paper published, the event was a month old, having probably taken place in January 1967.[note 4] Jones, the paper said, had stated that he no longer did much acid "now the cats have taken it up. It'll just get a dirty name. I remember the first time I took it—it was on tour with Bo Diddley".[note 5] Further, argues Trynka, Jones had been discussing marijuana, but the paper had deliberately misquoted him as acid had been illegal since the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1965 and thus strengthened the newspaper's story as to what rock stars such as the Stones' were assumed to be doing. Trynka suggests that the misidentification of Jagger for Jones may have been accidental, although acknowledges that "insiders like Marianne Faithfull believe that too was cynical and deliberate: as the figurehead of the Stones, Mick's celebrity would help sell more papers".[17] These allegations were particularly important at the time as they could have adversely affected the group's Visa status for touring the United States. Jagger also had an alibi, and the paper became concerned that it would face a heavy financial damages if the case came to court; Trynka suggests that the paper then set two of its "most aggresive [sic?] reporters on the case in an attempt to discover culpability on Jagger's part. Members of the group were followed, vans parked outside their houses at all hours and they believed telephone lines were bugged as they heard clicks and echoes when they made calls. On the evening of Saturday, 11 February the paper's news desk received a call: "it was enormously fortunate", recalled the editor later, "that it happened to be an informant".[17]

David Schneiderman, under the alias David Jones, known as the "Acid King" usually carried a briefcase which acted as a mobile drug dispensary.[18] Robert Fraser was an art dealer and nicknamed "Groovy Bob" by Terry Southern on account of the gatherings he organised, which included celebrities such as the Beatles, the Stones, photographer Michael Cooper, designer Christopher Gibbs, Marianne Faithfull, Dennis Hopper, William Burroughs and Kenneth Anger.[19][note 6] Christopher Gibbs, an antique dealer, was known as the "King of Chelsea" and was a close friend of the band.[21][note 7] Others were photographer, Michael Cooper, who was to design the cover of Their Satanic Majesties Request.[23] The party, says Trynka, was to be a "showdown between the straight world and the alternative world".[17] Jones had planned to attend, but he was still working on the soundtrack for Mord und Totschlag (A Degree of Murder).[17] Nicky Karmer, and associate of the band, also attended.[17]

Trynka asserts that one of the intentions of the party to was to give Jagger his first acid trip. Schneiderman injected the house party goers with his LSD around midday; Jagger was sick at first. They then drove around Sussex, Cooper photographing them as they travelled. In the evening Tony Bramwell—a Beatles' roadie—arrived, and was soon followed by George Harrison and his wife Pattie, although neither stayed long.[24][note 8]

Following a tip-off from the News of the World[17] on Sunday 12 February, Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher[25] led a squad of 18 officers[26]—including two female constables in case it became necessary to perform a body search on Faithfull[24]—which had been tipped off by his chauffeur[27][note 9] raided a party at Keith Richards' home, Redlands. No arrests were made at the time, but Jagger, Richards and their friend art dealer Robert Fraser were subsequently charged with drug offences. Andrew Oldham was afraid of being arrested and fled to America.[28][29] It was believed that Jagger, Richards and Faithfull were coming down from an all-day acid trip. In his autobiography, Richards later described how, "there's a knock on the door, I look out the window, and there's this whole lot of dwarves outside … I'd never been busted before, and I'm still on acid".[9] The police discovered little sign of illegality: a few roaches, amphetamine pills from Jagger's Italian supplier, and Fraser was found in possession of heroin. [26] It is likely that the pills were Faithfull's but that Jagger claimed them as his own to save her from arrest.[17]

It was also rumoured that the party the Police had interrupted was an orgy and that Jagger had been caught eating a Mars bar out of Faithfull's vagina.[note 10] However, it subsequently emerged that the police entered what Faithfull describes as a quiet domestic scene; "How the Mars bar got into the story, I don't know ... It shows you what's in people's minds".[9] The News of the World reported "with particular gusto", says author Fred Goodman, that when the police entered Faithfull had just had a shower and had had to put a fur rug over herself. [26] She later described how, as a side effect of their comedowns, they kept breaking into laughter while the police searched the house, "collecting sticks of incense and miniature bars of hotel soap".[31] The police told Richards that, under the DDA, he was held responsible as the property owner for any drugs discovered, to which Richards said, "I see. They pin it all on me". Meanwhile, Jones had phoned to say he had finished his work on ''Mord'' and was about to drive down; "don't bother", replied Richards, telling him "we've been busted".[17]

Although Jagger, Richards and Fraser were released the following day, it soon became clear, argues Goodman, that "the government was serious" about sending them to prison.[26] Originally charged at Chichester Magistrates Court on 10 May, Jagger and Richards pled not guilty and availed themselves of their right to a trial by jury.[18] The case was heard at Chichester Crown Court before Judge Leslie Kenneth Allen Block. They were remanded to Lewes Prison to await sentencing on 27 July. [18] The subsequent arrest of Richards and Jagger put them on trial before the British courts, whilst also trying them in the court of public opinion.[35] On 29 June 1967, Jagger was sentenced a £200 fine and to three months' imprisonment for possession of four amphetamine tablets. Richards was found guilty of allowing cannabis to be smoked on his property and sentenced to one year in prison and a £500 fine.[35][36] Both Jagger and Richards were imprisoned at that point: Jagger was taken to Brixton Prison in south London, and Richards to Wormwood Scrubs Prison in west London. Fraser received a year and did not appeal.[26] Both were released on bail the next day pending appeal.[37] They were represented in court by the barrister Michael havers.[38]

The first trial – the only one involving a prison sentence[39] – resulted from a February 1967 police raid on Redlands, Richards's Sussex estate, where he and some friends, including Jagger, were spending the weekend.[40] Faithfull recalls the rug she had worn at Redlands being exhibited as evidence.[31] She also thought that "one of the few pleasant things about the whole scaly business was that we got to see Mick and Keith wearing such beautiful clothes": the former wore a green velvet suit with a pink shirt while the latter wore black ad grey silk and a white cravat. Faithfull believes that this choice—encouraging an impression of being romantic figures rather than depraved—aided their publicity campaign.[41]

Richards said in 2003, "When we got busted at Redlands, it suddenly made us realize that this was a whole different ball game and that was when the fun stopped. Up until then, it had been as though London existed in a beautiful space where you could do anything you wanted".[48] On the treatment of the man responsible for the raid, he later added: "As I heard it, he never walked the same again". [27] The Rolling Stones continued to face legal battles for the next decade.[49] Richards believed that he and Jagger had been "stitched up" by the News of the Screws and the establishment together, as the former's best defence in the lawsuit from Jagger was that they were all on drugs, which their conviction would imply. [26] Rees-Mogg later commented on the case:

Nobody else would have been sent to prison for what was essentially a sea-sickness tablet. If I had landed at Dover with those pills in my pocket, or even if it was the Archbishop of Canterbury, we would have been given no more than a fine.[36]

Faithfull believes that the trip they took at Redlands laid strengthened the bond between Jagger and Richards and laid the ground for their subsequent inseparableness.[50] She also considers that it helped mould their image to their advantage.[51]

Anthony Barnes, writing in the Independent, suggests that "to some it is a defining moment in history, the point at which a moribund establishment started to disintegrate. To others, the Rolling Stones drugs trial was another nail in the coffin of old-fashioned British values." Either way, he says, very publicly "the establishment turn[ed] on itself". It was the first "pop stars and drugs story" of the tabloid press.[36] This image was enhanced by the role of Havers, who has been described as being, at the time, "the most expensive silk in the country and the pinnacle of the establishment".[38][note 12] Trynka describes the case as "the defining moment of the decade".[24]

In 2004, the BBC reported that HBO had commissioned a 2-hour-long film—provisionally titled Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?—of the bust and the events that followed. Nigel Havers was lined up to play his father in a script written by Nick Fisher.[38] Ten years later, Newshub reported that the film was "in the works", and that Nigel Havers—who as a child was sworn to secrecy about the case—had a script ready.[53]

• "She Had a Mars Bar Where?" Rolling Stones Redlands Bust