Penthouse Pet turned drug ring mastermind Simone Starr vows to reform

A former Penthouse Pet jailed for being the mastermind behind an international drugs ring has vowed to be a model citizen after being set free following­ more than seven years behind bars.

Former Penthouse Pet Simone Starr.

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A former Penthouse Pet jailed for being the mastermind behind an international drugs ring has vowed to be a model citizen after being set free following­ more than seven years behind bars.

Simone Starr first hit the headlines in 1998 when she was known as Simone Cheung and her then boyfriend Brett Boyd lost an eye, a thumb and nearly his life after he picked up a parcel bomb addressed to her.

Simone Starr was released from jail last week with a desire to warn people about the dangers of drugs and crime. Picture: Adam Yip

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Starr, 43, walked free from Bolwarra Transitional Centre last Thursday after serving time for smuggling the drug ice into Australia disguised as bath salts.

“My first priority will be to counsel young people, especially impressionable females, not to be lured into the criminal world. It’s not as glamorous as it’s portrayed,’’ she said yesterday.

“I made mistakes, which I’ve paid for, but now I want to make sure others make the right decisions.”

In 1998, the then 23-year-old’s life was turned upside down after the explosion at Boyd’s Belrose home. The police investigation into the parcel bomb led rising Fox TV presenter Roberto Sanchez de Heredia to be charged with attempted murder.

“It was a bewildering time for me, I was so young,’’ Starr said.

Simone Starr worked as an international swim suit model under the name Simone Farrow before being lured into crime.

In turn, Boyd — who was best mates with nightclub impresario John Ibrahim — was later charged with trying to kill de Heredia when he was found with a loaded machine gun, bullet proof vest and pistol waiting for him to walk out of Randwick police station when he was granted bail.

De Heredia fled the country after faking his death but was arrested in 2016 after 17 years on the run, extradited and charged with the attempted murder of Boyd.

In April, he was found not guilty but deported immediately because he left the country on a false passport in 1999.

Brett Boyd, who was seriously injured when he opened letter bomb left at his Belrose home, addressed to girlfriend Simone Cheung.

After the bombing Boyd and Starr split up and he killed himself in 2008.

Soon after escaping the bomb Starr left for the US and attempted to reinvent herself.

She recorded pop songs and worked as a swimsuit model, with songs including Colour My World and Somebody2luvme, though they were never picked up by a major label.

But she fell into the sinister world of drugs and eventually came to the attention of the US Drug Enforcement Agency for smuggling methamphetamine, also known as ice, to Australia.

Former Penthouse Pet Simone Starr attending court accused of serious drugs offences.

“That’s all behind me now. I’m working with a friend who has a company called Phusion Living where we want to make ourselves available to schools and organisations warning young people of the dangers of drugs,” Starr said. “I’m ashamed about what I did and really remorseful.”

A new book by Telegraph crime editor Mark Morri, Hate Mail, follows the case of the bombing of Brett Boyd and the subsequent trial.

In excerpts to be published this week exclusively in The Daily Telegraph, John Ibrahim talks about his mate and what happened after the bombing.