Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

The British headmaster who ran the Chinese branch of a British public school in China has been jailed for drug offences.

Damien Michael Charnock who was previously head of Dulwich College’s Shanghai operation has been jailed for 10 months in Singapore after he admitted possessing and consuming methamphetamine.

The 60-year-old was arrested earlier in the year at an apartment in Singapore whether found a bag containing both the drug and equipment for smoking it.

Local media compared the case to the television series Breaking Bad about a chemistry teacher who turns to making the same drug in order to raise cash for his family after he is diagnosed with cancer.

The British headmaster pleaded guilty when he appeared in court to three charges, namely possession of 3 grammes of the drug, possessing a utensil for the consumption of the drug, and actual consumption of the drug, and was jailed for a comparatively low sentence after his lawyer, Remy Choo, described his arrest and appearance in court as a “precipitous fall from grace.”

They said that as a result of his actions, the career that he had built up over his lifetime had been left “in tatters”.

The court heard he became addicted to the drug in 2017 and the teacher got off lightly as he could have been jailed for up to 10 years.

London based Dulwich College has a history dating back to the 17th century and in recent years has extended its operations opening up schools in countries like China and Singapore.

Between 2014 and 2017 he was the head of the Chinese operation Dulwich College Shanghai Pudong and then moved to Singapore to work for Dulwich College International.

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