Ex Caroline Springs Bakers Delight boss Henry Camilleri pleads guilty to running Gisborne meth lab
An ex-Bakers Delight boss watched his bakery empire go “up in smoke” after he was done with a meth lab at his Gisborne home.
Bendigo
Don't miss out on the headlines from Bendigo. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A former Caroline Springs baker who once ran a thriving Bakers Delight bakery empire has
admitted running a secret meth lab at his family home.
Henry Camilleri, 45, fronted the County Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to charges including drug trafficking.
Camilleri’s life unravelled after his wife Bozana Dragojevic discovered a meth lab hidden at their Gisborne family home in August 2017.
Ms Dragojevic confronted her husband after discovering the lab concealed behind a secret door in the garage.
Camilleri, who also pleaded guilty to possessing trafficking equipment, cultivating cannabis and possessing a firearm, told his wife he bought Sudafed tablets to produce speed.
After 13-years of marriage, Ms Dragojevic left with their three children.
Camilleri then dated another woman in what was termed a “turbulent” relationship.
The ex-Bakery supremo’s once-thriving Caroline Springs Bakers Delight also received multiple complaints due to his speed use.
These complaints had reached Bakers Delight headquarters by January 2018.
Despite the heat, Camilleri’s drug racket wasn’t uncovered by police until August 2018.
Investigators discovered the meth lab after responding to a triple-0 call following a domestic dispute between Camilleri and his new partner.
Camilleri initially claimed he had been “set up” and didn’t “touch the stuff” but he was caught slinging a glass ice pipe while he was allowed to urinate on a tree.
Investigators seized 56 cannabis plants, some a metre high, and equipment and chemicals used to manufacture meth from the Gisborne property.
The baker also had a loaded handgun underneath his pillow and ammunition stashed around the house, including shotgun shells left in the oven.
Camilleri’s barrister David Langton said the father-of-three had a long-term drug addiction which he used to help him focus on his work.
Mr Langton said Camilleri started using speed at 17 to help the Bakers Delight apprentice baker focus when starting his day at 1am.
In 2000 Camilleri opened his own Bakers Delight, and quickly expanded to four bakeries and employed 110 staff.
A pair of stores run by Camilleri were once ranked 1 and 2 on the Bakers Delight growth chart.
But by 2011 his bakery empire began to falter, with stores forced to close and a lengthy legal battle beginning against Bakers Delight.
He was forced to sell the family home, lost his franchise agreement and by 2017 his marriage of 13 years ended.
Mr Langton said this triggered his return to drug use.
Camilleri told the court he was now working in concreting.
Judge Liz Gaynor said the once successful baker watched as “it’s all gone up in smoke”.
“You’re left floundering and grief stricken,” Ms Gaynor said.
The matter continues.
Insurance companies abandon small businesses amid crime crisis
Small business owners have been left to fend for themselves amid a cost of living crisis and a sharp increase in crime as insurance companies pull back on theft coverage.
New speak-easy bar flagged in sale of ‘Bendigo Antique Market’
A chance to redevelop a piece of Bendigo’s “retail heritage” from 1870 has been tipped as one of the city’s “most attractive investment opportunities” on the market.