2 days ago
Student from 'poor' background admits plot to sell drugs at Creamfields festival to make money so she 'could keep up with her middle class friends'
A student from a poor background smuggled drugs into a music festival to make money so she could 'keep up' with her middle-class friends, a court heard.
Jasmine Mattis, now 20, had struggled to ape her wealthy classmates' lavish lifestyles when she moved to a prestigious secondary school.
In August 2023 aged only 18 and having just completed her A Levels, Mattis was caught trying to enter the Creamfields dance festival in Runcorn, Cheshire with a stash of Ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, ketamine and cannabis wrapped up in her coat and a large bag.
When confronted at the festival, one of the biggest in Europe and which attracts annual crowds of up to 70,000, she initially claimed the drugs were not hers.
She then talked about 'needing the money', asking to go to the toilet and attempted to run away - before being arrested.
Mattis, of South Norwood, Croydon, South London, faced up to seven years' imprisonment after she admitted five charges of possessing drugs with intent to supply.
But the student and part-time waitress wept as a judge at Chester Crown Court sentenced her to 200 hours' unpaid work and 10 days of rehabilitation activities.
A judge told her she had been attempting to peddle 'killer' drugs.
Mattis, currently studying Philosophy and Psychology at Keele University, Staffordshire, hopes to take a Masters degree at Edinburgh University and become a therapist.
The court heard she has also become and a poster girl for the Youth Justice Legal Centre, which tackles youth offending and is sponsored by Sir Keir Starmer's former law chambers.
Frances Wilmot, prosecuting, said Mattis was found with '42 bags of ketamine, 192 MDMA tablets, 22 bags of MDMA powder, 13 bags containing a mixture of MDMA, cocaine and ketamine, four doses of LSD, three cannabis cigarettes and a 1g bag of cocaine at 77pc purity'.
Miss Willmott added: 'There were two mobile phones seized, which gave some indication in respect of drugs for her own use as well as supply to others. Clearly, (the drugs) were of some value.'
Mattis, who has recently completed an eight-month solo journey across Asia where she volunteered as an English teacher, gave no comment in police interview.
Danielle Manson, defending, said: 'Mattis grew up quite poor and went to a state school in Croydon.
'She was then offered a place in a quite prestigious state school which was quite a significant step up.
'She was then socialising with middle class Londoners and that is a very different world to the world that she was from.
'It is not an excuse - but perhaps an explanation, as to why a teenager, finding herself in new social circles, was trying to make some money. Those socialising with her were involved in different lifestyles.'
Miss Manson, who did not reveal the name of the school, admitted her client had taken drugs herself from the age of 15 but added: 'There is no suggestion that she had any involvement with drug gangs.
'We are talking about a child who just finished school effectively… but I have to concede she would have had some awareness of the scale of what she was getting herself into.'
Sentencing, Judge Steven Everett said: 'Class A ecstasy is a killer. Cocaine is a killer and when (users) sniff it in its purest form, their noses cave in and it does goodness knows what else to their insides.
'Undoubtedly, LSD has a significant effect psychologically; it is well documented cannabis causes significant mental health issues and there is evidence ketamine causes bladder problems.
'You were going to take those drugs in and make money out of those people and create that risk.
'But you have exhibited genuine remorse, not just (feeling) sorry for yourself for being caught - you genuinely understand in the last two years the effects of the drugs and the seriousness of the position that you find yourself in.'
Sparing her jail, Judge Everett said: 'Everything I have heard about you leads me to the inevitable conclusion that you can better yourself in life and I will give you a chance.'
