Community service for cocaine rabbi

A multi-millionaire rabbi who admitted spending a 1,000 pounds a week "on the best cocaine in town" has been ordered to do 60 days of community work. Rabbi Baruch Chalomish, 54, of Salford, admitted one count of possessing cocaine and was found guilty of a further count of possession. The judge at Manchester Crown Court told Chalomish that his "secret life had been exposed".

The rabbi said he took the drugs to try to forget his wife's death. The rabbi also admitted he paid prostitutes to have sex with him.

But as well as spending thousands of pounds on cocaine, Chalomish also delivered money-stuffed envelopes to those less fortunate than himself, the court heard.

Police raided the city centre apartment he used for his drug and sex-fuelled parties on 5 January. They discovered cocaine in the bedroom, on a glass tray and in a bowl, along with rolled up banknotes used for snorting the drug and credit cards used for chopping it into lines.