DRUG-TRAFFICKING | 

Dublin ‘influencer’ convicted alongside playboy cocaine trafficker for role in major Drug Scheme.

Christopher Mellon narrowly avoided jail over role in scheme masterminded by Fran Fennell – who got eight years

Ali Bracken

Today at 07:40

A man convicted alongside playboy cocaine trafficker Fran Fennell is a well-known influencer on the Dublin social scene.

Christopher Mellon (32) appeared before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court nine days ago and narrowly avoided jail for his role in a major drug-trafficking operation linked to the Kinahan cartel.

The “mastermind” of the operation was Fran Fennell (34), who the court heard was the head of a criminal enterprise which exported drugs into Australia and New Zealand and repatriated the profits. He was jailed for eight years.

His co-accused Mellon pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering in the case. He also accompanied a drugs mule to Perth in Australia as part of the criminal enterprise, the court heard.

Judge Pauline Codd imposed a three-and-a-half year sentence on Mellon, which she suspended in full.

She said Mellon’s offending was aggravated by the fact he was willing to partake in offences in the full knowledge he was dealing with the proceeds of drugs sales.

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Judge Codd noted in mitigation Mellon’s guilty plea and his “remorse, shame and embarrassment”. She said he had “self-rehabilitated completely” and was now successfully running a number of businesses. The judge also said that at the time of the offending, he had been 23 years old, living a “party lifestyle” and taking cocaine.

Among the businesses Mellon is now involved with is working as an influencer. He regularly promotes brands and events in the capital on his Instagram page, Dublin Social, which has 147,000 followers. He also co-hosts the food and drink podcast That’s Bangin’.

On his LinkedIn page he describes himself as “creative director at Digi Glow, Dublin Social, Disco Social & BlackBerry Café”, which is based in the Liberties in Dublin 8. On its website, Disco Social says it is the “home of Dublin’s famous daytime parties”.

Mellon became engaged to his fellow influencer Ashley Kehoe in October last year. News of their engagement featured in VIP magazine online, as well as a number of other online Irish media outlets. The couple also held a “white-themed” engagement party at a Dublin venue, with the event shared widely across social media.​

Mellon, of Distillery Apartments, Distillery Road, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering in 2014. The court heard he had no previous convictions.

Judge Codd noted Mellon’s offending had occurred over a short period.

She said he had transferred money on two occasions and accompanied a drugs mule to Perth.

She said he sought payment of €5,000 for this on his return to Dublin and that this was different to many cases where the person was offending while “in hock” to drug dealers.

The judge noted his family support and evidence that he was involved in charity work. She said that he was living a pro-social life and at low risk of reoffending. He has not come to any further garda attention.

Efforts were made to contact Mellon for comment.

The Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Fennell was the mastermind behind the operation, which took advantage of a disparity between cocaine prices in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.

Fennell successfully straddled two very different worlds for many years — partying with models and business people while also maintaining ties with senior Kinahan cartel criminals. His social media accounts, now shut down, showed how Fennell jetted across the world for holidays.

While he was in Dublin, the Ballymun native lived in a luxury apartment, mixed with the high-society scene and was romantically linked to influencers, with his relationships discussed on gossip websites.

Gardaí believe Fennell became a leading supplier of cocaine to Dublin’s most affluent clientele, while also mixing socially with his clients. But he also had links to some of the capital’s most dangerous criminals.

When he was a young man Fennell had become involved in the drugs trade and had been mentored by gangster Eamon ‘The Don’ Dunne.

After Dunne was murdered in 2010, Fennell built links with key figures in the Kinahan network and sourced cocaine from the cartel, gardaí believe.

During a trip to Australia, Fennell realised there were huge profits to be made from selling cocaine in Australia.

He set up a network of human couriers and transported a fortune in cocaine from Ireland to Australia, using models, executives and students to carry the drugs internally across the globe before handing them over to his Australian associates. However, Fennell’s unexplained wealth made him the prime target for police forces in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.

When his phone was seized at Darwin Airport in April 2015, the end was in sight for Fennell. Messages and information from the phone were downloaded and shared with gardaí