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Taxi Talk / Dublin taxi driver caught with €250k of cocaine gets second chance on TV cooking
« Last post by watty on March 27, 2023, 05:54:56 pm »Dublin taxi driver caught with €250k of cocaine gets second chance on TV cooking show
Talk about a downward spiral: Taxi Driver --> Drug Mule --> Appearing on Virgin Media One --> Appearing in Sunday World. All in 3 years!
Quote
A taxi driver who fell on hard times and was jailed after being caught storing €250,000 of cocaine has turned his life around after taking part in a TV show. stephen Boylan (53), was nabbed with the huge stash of coke when, after a tip-off, gardaí raided a shed he was living in Kill, Co. Kildare, in May 2020. Dubliner Stephen, a separated father-of-two, was pressed for cash when Covid struck and was persuaded by drug dealers to store the cocaine in return for drips-and-drabs payments of €1,000.
Although such a major offence usually carries a mandatory sentence of 10 years, Stephen was handed down a four-and-a-half-year term given it was his first offence and he had co-operated with gardaí. Following his conviction, he became a model prisoner in Cloverhill Prison and later at the open prison of Shelton Abbey, where he showed his prowess as a master baker and cook, making cakes and biscuits for officers as well as concocting tasty meals for fellow prisoners.
He became so highly regarded by prison bosses that when a new Virgin Media TV series featuring celebrity chef Dylan McGrath began its search for an inmate to join a quintet of marginalised and disadvantaged people, his name was put forward.
<snip> lots more info, incl interview in the newspaper
Talk about a downward spiral: Taxi Driver --> Drug Mule --> Appearing on Virgin Media One --> Appearing in Sunday World. All in 3 years!