Latest news with #MeowMeow
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
Brit drug suspect facing Bali firing squad previously jailed for armed robbery
Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, stands accused of helping to smuggle nearly a kilo of cocaine into Bali disguised in Angel Delight packets, along with two fellow Brits. The Mirror can reveal he previously served time in prison for armed robbery and drug-dealing A Brit who faces the death penalty if he is convicted of helping to smuggle cocaine into Bali had previously been jailed in the UK for armed robbery and drug-dealing. Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, stands accused of drug-smuggling, along with fellow Brits Lisa Ellen Stocker, 29, and her boyfriend Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 28. The trio will be put on trial next week (June 10) in the Bali capital Denpasar, and if found guilty, could be sentenced to execution by firing squad. Back in 2012, Float - then aged 19 - was sentenced to 12 months behind bars after being caught with mephedrone hidden in his sock. He had been attempting to enter the Sugar Mill nightclub in Hull city centre when bouncers stopped him at the door and conducted a random search. Float had secreted 35 bags of the Class B drug, better known as M-Cat or Meow Meow, in his sock, which had a combined street value of £216. He also had £105 in cash on him. When he was arrested, he was heard telling cops: "It's only a bit of M-Cat." Float, who was of no fixed address at the time, refused to give a saliva sample for police to test for drugs, and later pleaded guilty at Hull Crown Court to possession with intent to supply a Class B controlled drug and failing to provide a sample on suspicion of taking a Class A drug. He was still on licence after being released from prison halfway through his sentence for armed robbery, and was told to go back to jail to serve the remainder, along with 12 months for the drugs charges. Float, who was still on licence after being released halfway through a sentence for armed robbery, was caught on September 15. Chief Inspector Dave Houchin of Humberside Police said at the time: "The sentencing of Float is a great result for Humberside Police and the people of Hull. "It shows we take offences such as this very seriously and will do all we can to bring offenders to justice." Float has been held in a Bali prison for the last four months, following his arrest in early February. His alleged accomplices, Stocker, from Gillingham in Kent, and Collyer were arrested together on Saturday, February 1. They had landed at Denpasar International Airport and were stopped at customs. Their bags were searched and officials claimed to have found suspicious items in their suitcases disguised as food packages. Lab tests found that 10 sachets of Angel Delight powdered dessert mix in Collyer's luggage, combined with seven similar sachets in Stocker's suitcase, contained 993.56 grams of cocaine - worth an estimated 6 billion rupiah - approximately £272,500. They had travelled from the UK, with a stopover in Doha, Qatar. Prosecutor I Made Dipa Umbara told the District Court in Denpasar at a pre-trial hearing that Float was arrested two days later at a controlled delivery set up by police, in which the other two suspects handed over the stash of Class A drug to him in the car park of a hotel in Denpasar. Ponco Indriyo, the Deputy Director of the Bali Police Narcotics Unit, alleged it was the third time the same trio have smuggled drugs into the country. Their first two occasions were successful, he claimed. Indonesian authorities crack down hard on suspected drug-smuggling, with at least 530 people - including 96 foreign nationals - currently on death row, mostly for drug-related crimes.
Extra.ie
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Beyond the Pale announces 2025 'high camp' arts line-up
Highlights from the programme include SexyTadgh, RÓIS, Irvine Welsh, Meow Meow, Haus of Wig and more. Beyond The Pale festival has announced the arts programme for its 2025 edition, set to take place in the Glendalough Estate from June 13 to 15. Described as more 'daring, delicious and defiant than ever before', the arts programme is set to include acts such as folk and electronics Fermanagh artist RÓIS, Irish pianist, songwriter, vocalist, and fashion designer SexyTadhg, Meow Meow, the international cabaret icon and queen of post-post-modern performance, as well as Irvine Welsh, who is set to present Men In Love, a literary trip down the rabbit hole of masculinity and disco. The arts programme is also set to feature Haus of Wig, The Wild Geeze, Rathaus, Abandoman, Lisette Krol, Attention Bébé, The New Brass Kings, Faragh Elle, CHOP, Paradise Cabaret and more. Announcing our 2025 arts programme – a fever dream of high camp, high kicks and art magic. It's more daring, delicious and defiant than ever, blending sweaty glitter with political subversion, raw talent with ritual, and spectacle with pure unadulterated craic. Full details on… — Beyond The Pale (@BeyondThePaleIE) May 13, 2025 'This year's Arts Programme is a celebration of curiosity, community, and creativity in all its forms,' says Emily Brennan, Arts Programme Manager. 'Whether you're drawn to drag, circus, spoken word, aerial spectacle or simply stumbling into something surreal in the woods — we want people to feel surprised, inspired, and welcome. Beyond the Pale is where play becomes art, and art becomes unforgettable.' Previously announced musical acts for Beyond the Pale include Róisín Murphy, Jon Hopkins, Berlioz and Broken Social Scene, who will play their only Irish shows this summer, while Boney M play their first Irish show in nearly a decade. They're joined by Brooklyn-based rockers, TV on the Radio, playing their first show in Ireland in 17 years, festival-favourite Marc Rebillet, BadBadNotGood, recent Brit Award winners Ezra Collective and many more acts. Find the festival's full programme here.
The Guardian
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Meow Meow review – kamikaze cabaret combines clownish comedy and crooning
'I do think in 90 mins,' says the kamikaze cabaret performer Meow Meow, 'we can really make a difference.' It's a joke, clearly: in the face of encroaching tyranny and freedoms everywhere circumscribed, this blithering and eccentric diva seems unlikely to be much use. It's all she can do to get her show started, wheeling a piano effortfully onstage, replaying the whoops and cheers of bygone gigs and glories on a feeble Walkman. And yet, by the end of It's Come to This, Meow Meow – AKA Melissa Madden Gray – seems really to want to ask: what, in such ominous times, should the artist do? You can see why the question might concern her, engaged as she is with the songs of the Weimar era (Brecht and Weill's Ballad of the Soldier's Wife gets an outing here). Elsewhere, our big-haired, boundaries-free host twins chanson with clownish comedy in unique combination, now crooning Jacques Brel, now crawling cleavage-first over the shoulders of her crowd. As audience members are press-ganged on stage to fondle and manhandle its star, the show (with piano by Ben Dawson) can seem like an experiment to see how battily you can behave before the song you're singing is eclipsed entirely. The answer is: quite a lot, if your voice is as ravishing an instrument as Meow Meow. Occasionally, the shtick subsides and we get to really savour it. Equally often, that voice seeks attention for itself at the expense of the song. Latterly, the show devolves into worrisome political inquiry, as our host frets about the rise of nazism and Walter Benjamin's thoughts on the angel of history. Knowing what we know of the 1930s, what should we do now similar storm clouds are gathering? Her words 'I don't know' resounding like a siren, Meow Meow raises the alarm, but offers few answers. At Soho Theatre, London, until 24 May.
