An award-winning pastry chef based at one of London's most prestigious hotels is behind bars this week after she was caught trying to smuggle £2,300 worth of deadly party drugs into a top music festival.
Ana Catarina Nogueria De Melo, 23, was arrested after she agreed to take a huge haul of MDMA, Mcat and Ketamine into Creamfields 2022 on behalf of a drug dealer - in return for drugs plus cash towards her weekend tickets, food and drink. The £40,000-a-year sous chef who works at the £749 a night five star InterContinental in Park Lane was seen by security staff at the Cheshire festival to walk past amnesty bins and posters warning of the consequences of smuggling drugs into the festival - only for her to be detected by sniffer dogs.
Just a month after her arrest in August last year, she was honoured with a Pastry Award from the Craft Guild of Chefs at a glittering awards ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel for her work in the kitchen at the Intercontinental. Portugal-born Melo was detained on the day Lucy George, 25 was rushed to Warrington District General Hospital after taking half an ecstasy tablet, along with vodka and nitrous oxide at Creamfields.
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Lucy, from Neath, South Wales who was due to start a job as flight attendant with Virgin Atlantic died later from multiple organ failure. At Chester Crown Court on Wednesday (June 21), Melo was jailed for two and a half years after she pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply MDMA, a class A drug otherwise known as ecstasy, and the two class B drugs, ketamine and Mcat.
Sentencing Judge Patrick Thompson told her: ''Creamfields is plagued by drugs because those who smuggle drugs expect large rewards because they are at a premium. In 2022, £89,000 worth of drugs were seized by police from suspected suppliers at the festival whilst in the amnesty bins, there was £178,990 worth of drugs.
“But most importantly, in 2022, the year you were taking MDMA into the event, a 25-year-old female took MDMA on the Friday and passed away the following Tuesday from multiple organ failure. That's why this offence is viewed so seriously by the courts.
"You walked past the clear signage warning you about what you must expect if you smuggle drugs in and you also walked past the amnesty bins. It seems to me you showed some determination to get drugs into the festival.''
Joanne Moore, prosecuting, said: “On August 25 last year, officers at a private search company working at Creamfields searched this defendant and a total of 88 blue pills which were subsequently analysed and found to be MDMA were seized. There were 70 bags of white powder, revealed to be 30 bags of ketamine and 40 bags of Mcat.
''The total value of the 88 pills of MDMA was £880. The ketamine was valued at £600 and the Mcat at £800. The total value was £2,280. The bags were divided into £5 deals. The defendant was interviewed by police and gave no comment.
“A phone group discussion was discovered in which the group asked if anyone wanted to take a pack of drugs in return for a weekend's supply of drugs. the defendant responded she might as well, as she had done it before and a deal was made.
“There is reference to someone called 'Charlie' paying the defendant both in drugs and money for her services. Ongoing through the messages, the defendant goes on to arrange that drugs will be dropped off at her address. The defendant was fully aware that the person above her, who was supplying the drugs, was going to be selling them at the festival.
"She makes reference to others taking drugs as well. She was aware of the scale of the operation.”
According to her LinkedIn page, Melo, who graduated in restaurant management at the University of West London despite leaving school at 16, had also worked at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, The Sloane private members club in Chelsea and Sketch brasserie in Mayfair.
In September last year, Melo was one of eight chefs to be honoured at the Craft Guild of Chefs Graduate Awards. She was one of three young chefs to receive the Pastry Award and took the prize for ‘Highest Achiever’, winning for herself a trip to Lyon and a visit to the Paul Bocuse Market, a meal at a Michelin-Starred restaurant and a tour of the state-of-the-art Athanor factory.
Melo lives in Grove Road, Isleworth, West London, after coming to the UK aged 10.
In mitigation defence lawyer David Farley said his client had been ''naïve and immature'' and claimed reference to her suggesting she had previously smuggled in drugs was just “big talk.”
Mr Farley said: “She was merely putting herself forward as someone who could do this. At the time she had a drug habit herself. She would be paid in drugs, and the other advantage was that it would fund her at the festival.
“The money was a one-off payment. She was not due to profit from the sale of the drugs. From her point of view it was not a commercial enterprise though I accept that she knew the drugs were to be sold. She walked up to the queue. She saw the drug dogs and lost her nerve. She was afraid to dispose of them as she thought she might get into trouble with those who gave her the drugs.
“She went to the authorities and confessed that she had the drugs on her. She is as yet undiagnosed with depression and ADHD and has had some traumatic experiences. She was ill-advisedly taking drugs and street drugs as antidepressants. She is Portuguese by birth and came here when she was 10. She is not very close to her parents and they do not know she is in the court.
''That's more to do with estrangement than fear of telling them. She is genuinely and properly remorseful and very much regrets what she decided to do. She is plainly a hard-working, talented chef and has a job at a distinguished hotel in London. She is very scared of the prospect of custody.
A probation report on Melo said: “On the day of the offence, there were two cars travelling up from London. Some of the friends in the car she was travelling with were friends of friends of friends and she did not know them that well.
“But in a group chat, she got involved and arranged to meet Charlie at a Tesco on the way to Creamfields and that was where the package of drugs was passed. She said she had no idea of the quantity or what drugs were in the parcel but accepts she made that decision so that she could have free drugs for the weekend and some cash to spend.
“The idea was to give drugs back to this chap when she went to the other side of the entrance to the festival. The girls in the car were reassuring her that everything was good to go, that she had nothing to worry about. Of course, she got to the festival gates. She did consider the amnesty bins but she was in fear of what would happen to her if the drugs vanished.
“As she got to the gate, she was very cooperative immediately when the dogs started to sniff around her. She has not spoken to those so-called friends since.''
The report added: “She has just got this new job as a junior sous chef, £40,000 per annum and it is a management role. She has worked hard but she has got these demons and was using drugs for escapism.
''She is still using drugs but not as much since this incident which clearly, gave her a massive wake up call. It's a great pity these demons have got her into trouble, getting her involved in drugs and now effectively becoming a supplier of drugs. She can't believe she has done it.''
There were 23 other people were arrested and charged with drug possession or drug dealing offences from last year’s Creamfields festival. The four-day event held between August 25 and 28 2022, at Daresbury, Cheshire, attracted 69,000 revellers.
Following the festival, police reported 209 crimes, 135 of which were drug related.
