Family rallies to welcome Richard Buttrose although wife and children missing
THERE was nothing but sympathy for newly released convicted drug dealer Richard Buttrose in the eastern suburbs yesterday, Annette Sharp writes.
Opinion
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THERE was nothing but sympathy for convicted drug dealer Richard Buttrose in the eastern suburbs yesterday.
The former sports marketer, who was released from jail after serving nine years of a 12-year sentence for supply and possession after police caught him with two 6kg bricks of cocaine in 2009, has served his time and paid a dear price for his crime say friends.
But despite his happy face Buttrose’s estranged wife Pollyanna and his two young children were not waiting breathlessly in a glamorous jet to receive their husband and father back into their arms upon his release from Berrima Correctional Centre.
Pollyanna quit Australia for England in 2009 following her husband’s shock arrest.
The couple’s son was only two when Buttrose was jailed and his baby daughter not yet born.
The children, now aged about 11 and nine, hardly know their father and Pollyanna’s well-to-do British family were quick to resettle their daughter in the UK, where she has moved on with her life.
Why there’s understandably some panic from those alarmed Buttrose has handed police his little black book, most are of the view Buttrose is entitled to his early release after his stint behind bars, some of which was spent with head down studying a business degree.
Said one wealthy social identity on Friday: “The guy was effectively a delivery man to Sydney’s eastern suburbs. It seems a bit harsh getting nine years for servicing the people.”
Buttrose has the means to start his life again, though his parole conditions will prevent him from getting on a plane and reuniting with his children on foreign soil.
There are plenty of rooms in the Parsley Bay home of his elderly mother Elizabeth, widow of media icon Ita Buttrose’s banker brother William, to accommodate her Cranbrook-educated only son.
He is adored by his two sisters — the Double Bay-based Evie, who collected Buttrose from Berrima, and scandal-prone Lizzie, whose chaotic love life has dominated the social pages for the past decade.
Lizzie, 48, will this week marry her seventh fiance Zoran Stopar, who told a court this year he had defaced photos of his beloved with the words “slut”, “whore” and “junkie”.
Her brother’s release from jail coincides nicely with Lizzie’s December 1 planned nuptials in Cairns, at which Richard has been invited to give the bride away.