A Clyde landscaper has been jailed for up to five years over his role at a clandestine meth lab at an Air BnB rental in the Yarra Valley.
Nathan Lowson, 42, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to drug trafficking, as well as possessing substances, materials, documents or equipment for drug trafficking and possessing 1,4-butanediol.
Over several months in 2021, police surveilled Lowson and three others suspected to be making ‘ice’ at their hired, isolated hillside property overlooking the Yarra Glen township.
On 4 October that year, police raided the BnB and found remnants of a clan lab in the garage.
They seized 2.2 kilograms of methamphetamine – of which 427 grams was ‘pure’ meth – more than eight times the commercial-traffickable threshold.
Also found were $14,100 cash, six phones and 146 items of clan lab items including scientific glassware, equipment and pre cursor chemicals.
Sentencing judge Patricia Riddell stated on 28 October that Lowson had a close, supportive role in the drug-making syndicate, including obtaining equipment, discussing pricing and distribution.
He was not a “gopher” or “lackey” but an enthusiastic and active participant and trusted by the inner sanctum, she said.
Lowson was using multiple vehicles and phones not registered under his name, and took part in the group’s encrypted calls and message chats on the ‘Signal’ app.
The hired property’s restricted access and seclusion was indicative of the enterprise’s “highly commercial nature”.
Lowson was not charged with trafficking a commercial amount, due to prosecutors accepting that he wasn’t aware of the quantity of drugs being manufactured.
However Judge Riddell said his close involvement in the manufacturing made him aware that it was not a small amount.
According to a prosecution summary, officers intercepted Lowson and a co-accused man in a hired van driven from the property on the day of the raid.
They were believed to have headed out to obtain glassware for drug manufacture.
Three zip-lock bags of meth and a small amount of 1,4-butanediol were inside the van.
On Lowson’s phone, police found a downloaded step-by-step guide Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture by ‘Uncle Fester’.
Judge Riddell stated this was a “serious” example of trafficking, noting that the manufacture and selling of drugs had a deleterious impact on addicts’ lives and their victims of violent crime.
Lowson’s mature age, and his lengthy history of serious drug-related crime, including two breached CCOs, were also noted.
He had conceded a long-term problematic drug use drove his offending. Judge Riddell inferred that financial gain and supporting his own addiction were drivers in this case.
At the time, he’d relapsed into daily use of meth and amphetamine and fell in with the co-offenders while his business suffered from Covid lockdowns.
She rated Lowson’s rehabilitation prospects as “modest”, noting he’d not reoffended since his release on bail in 2022.
“It is your long-standing drug addiction which is your hurdle and a significant one to overcome. If you do not deal with that issue, you’re at risk of reoffending.”
In 2024, one of the co-accused Toni Delahunty – who rented the Air BnB and had a pivotal role in the drug-making enterprise – was sentenced for trafficking in a commercial quantity.
She was jailed for up to five-and-a-half years, with a non-parole period of three-and-a-half years.
Noting a need for parity with Delahunty, Judge Riddell jailed Lowson for five years, with a three-year non-parole period.
The matters of the two other co-accused are yet to have resolved.
