mobanmarketSingapore: A British former headmaster of an international school in China has been jailed for 10 months in Singapore after admitting possession and consumption of methamphetamine, officials said Tuesday.
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Damien Michael Charnock used to be the head of Dulwich College Shanghai, a branch of the exclusive London private school.
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Police arrested the 60-year-old in March at an apartment in the city-state and discovered bags containing the drug and a glass contraption for smoking it, according to court documents.
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The case has echoes of hit American TV show “Breaking Bad”, which tells the story of a chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with cancer and turns to making meth to raise money to secure his family’s future.
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Charnock pleaded guilty to three drug charges, and the attorney-general’s chambers confirmed he was jailed on Friday.
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His offences represented “a precipitous fall from grace”, defence lawyer Remy Choo was cited as saying by Singapore news outlet CNA.
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“His life’s work as a talented and immensely devoted educator lies in tatters.”
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He had been smoking crystal meth since 2017 and was employed as a curriculum developer at the time of the offences, the court documents said, without mentioning who his employer was.
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Singapore – which has tough anti-narcotics laws – punishes consumption of methamphetamine with a jail term of up to 10 years, and a fine of up to Sg$20,000 ($14,700).
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In an interview in 2015, Charnock said he was appointed to work at the Shanghai institution in 2014 after years as a headmaster at a school in London.
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Dulwich College, founded in the 17th century, now has several branches in Asia, including in Singapore.
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