17 Apr 2012

British MP's son banned from rugby for taking cocktail of drugs

7:32 am on 17 April 2012

Promising rugby player Jonathan Spelman, the teenage son of a senior British politician, has been banned for 21 months by the Rugby Football Union after admitting taking a cocktail of prohibited substances.

The 17-year-old, whose mother is Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman, appeared before an independent tribunal last month charged with taking a variety of performance enhancing drugs.

His parents initially tried to prevent him being named by a Sunday newspaper but a privacy injunction was lifted yesterday after a judge ruled against it.

Spelman, who played for England under-16s and Harlequins, reportedly took the drugs after being injured playing in a school match.