Saturday Kitchen star’s 18-year-old son held in £27,000 drug raid
A CELEBRITY chef has spoken of her ‘devastation’ after her son was arrested in a £27,000 drug raid.
Saturday Kitchen star Rachel Allen, 46, said her son Joshua had made a ‘ huge mistake’. The 18-year-old was arrested by officers from Ireland’s Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau during a raid on a home in County Cork.
The mother-of-three issued a statement which she said was in response to the ‘frenzy of inquiry and speculation’ relating to her son. ‘He has been arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs (marijuana) with intent to supply them to others,’ she said.
‘He has admitted his guilt immediately and co- operated fully with the garda [police]. A file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions and when formally charged Joshua will be pleading guilty at the first opportunity.’
A police spokesman told the Irish Mirror that Revenue Customs Officers seized about one and a half kilograms of suspected herbal cannabis with an estimated street value of £27,000 in the Shanagarry area of east Cork on August 30.
The spokesman added that a teenager was arrested at the scene.
Mrs Allen lives at a seaside home in County Cork with her husband Isaac, the son of television chef Darina Allen, and their three children – Joshua, Scarlett and Lucca. She is a regular guest chef on the BBC’s popular Saturday morning cooking show.
Mrs Allen added in her statement that she and her husband were ‘absolutely devastated’ over the incident. ‘Our son is 18 years old, has never been in trouble with the garda, and has made a huge mistake, which will have profound consequences for him,’ she said.
‘We do not in any way condone his actions, in fact, we utterly condemn them, but it is not for us to condemn him.
‘We must now try to look after our son and our family the best way we can. We would ask that the legal process would be allowed to proceed to deal with this matter, without interference, and that we would be allowed to deal with this, like any other parents in a similar position.’
After graduating from the Ballyumaloe Cookery School in County Cork, Mrs Allen took up a position as a chef at a local hotel. She later moved to Vancouver for a stint as a caterer before returning to her former school to teach.
She has had her own TV series on RTE in her native Ireland and has written for a number of Irish publications. Mrs Allen also presented a short series earlier this year on Channel 4’s digital channel More4 called A Cook’s Adventure in which she took roadtrips across Northern Ireland.
She was among the favourites to replace Mary Berry when The Great British Bake Off moved to Channel 4 and had previously suggested on Twitter that Berry be given a damehood for her ‘lifelong services to our industry’.