He was a private schoolboy hoping to play for a Premier League football team... then he became a £120million drug lord

A man who went to one of England's best schools and had trials for Aston Villa morphed into a 'drug lord' at the head of a £120million international smuggling operation.

Jonathan Arnold was arrested after around £118m worth of cocaine hidden in bananas, and bound for the UK from Colombia, was discovered by police in the Netherlands, Birmingham Live reports. The 30-year-old, who is the son of an ex-deputy police and crime commissioner, was said by police to have used his furniture removal firm was used as a front for his drugs empire.

A judge sentenced him to 23 and a half years in prison for his leading role in the drugs gang. Arnold's path towards crime was unusual, from a position of privilege and wealth as a child.

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He attended Repton Public School in Derbyshire, one of the best and most prestigious schools in the country which charges more than £10,000 a term. He had trials for Aston Villa and taught rugby at a posh international summer school.

Arnold, described as 'polite and personable' growing up by those who knew him, seemingly had the world at his feet and was on track to have a successful career and life. His mother Sue Arnold served as the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire from 2012 to 2021.

She also made an unsuccessful bid for Parliament in 2015 when she stood in Walsall South. She said she struggled to understand what went wrong with her son.

His parents blamed a Tramadol addiction for the start of his downfall. Arnold, from Sutton Coldfield, who was locked up last week after admitting conspiring to import drugs, is then said to have got in 'with the wrong crowd'.

While admitting he has done wrong and