I've written about hundreds of dodgy businessmen, misbehaving socialites and desperate wannabes during my years as a journalist.

But few stories have prompted the kind of overwhelming response sparked by my recent profile of former marketing guru Tess Rowlatt – now infamous as Melbourne's 'meth queen'.

After recalling my memories of moving in the same teenage party circles as Rowlatt, my inbox was flooded with messages from her former friends.

There were the usual stories from sketchy, drug-fuelled house parties and seedy Melbourne nightclubs. But among the hazy recollections was a confronting photo taken more recently that offered a sad glimpse into Rowlatt's life today.

Rowlatt had shared it herself on social media last May before quickly deleting it.

However, the image was screenshotted and shared among her old social circle: proof, friends said, of how squalid this once-promising young woman's life had become.

It was also evidence that, despite previous vows to get clean, she was using again.

At first glance, it looked like any other snapshot from her feed: Tess sitting beside a man I did not recognise. But between them, in plain sight, was an ice pipe.

'She uploaded it to Instagram without realising the pipe was in the photo - it was up for 30 minutes before she realised and took it down,' a former friend told me.

'The damage was done - I'm sure I wasn't the only person to screenshot it.'

The image is now said to be circulating among those who knew Rowlatt before her descent into crime and drug addiction.

Friends and acquaintances who contacted me agreed that Rowlatt going from using cocaine and ecstasy to 'forbidden' drugs like meth and GHB was the point they knew she was going off the rails.

Even then, some feared she was in so deep that she would eventually blur the line between drug use and involvement in the illicit trade.

'I was friends with her in her pinger days, but we drifted through her ice and GHB era,' one friend told me, reflecting the kinds of messages that flooded my inbox.

In my previous report, I recalled how we crossed paths in the same 'high-end' but drug‑soaked clubs - QBar, Prince, Seven, Boutique - during those fun, chaotic nights before any of us had real responsibilities like full‑time jobs or rent.

The mid-2000s nightlife scene in Melbourne was a period when electronic dance music and drug experimentation collided among university students.

Like many, Rowlatt - who graduated from Monash University with a bachelor of business majoring in marketing - dabbled in party drugs. But unlike most of her peers, she didn't stop. She escalated from pingers to harder drugs. 

'She always had an issue with drugs and never wanted to go home. Even when the night had ended, she was always chasing someone to kick on and keep partying,' another former friend said.

'She started losing her friends in the early uni days. The lying, stealing and drug-taking were too much.' 

Somewhere along the way, Rowlatt graduated from using drugs to distributing them. Her life would eventually unravel when she became the focus of a major police operation.

In mid-2021, Victoria Police's Major Drug Squad launched a targeted investigation into her activities.

Detectives spent months tracking her movements through extensive physical and electronic surveillance.

They moved in on October 21, 2021, arresting her at her Upper West Side apartment on Spencer Street in Melbourne's CBD.

Police alleged she had been moving between Airbnbs booked under false identities, using forged essential worker permits, and continuing to sell drugs while on bail.

The charges were extensive. She initially faced more than 70 offences, including trafficking a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine, trafficking heroin, and dealing in 1,4-butanediol - a substance that converts into the drug GHB.

However, she ultimately pleaded guilty to just two major drug trafficking offences and was handed a four-year community correction order.

In 2023, Rowlatt was released to attend the Windana Grampians rehab centre, but was expelled within weeks for vaping, intimidating other patients and refusing to participate in certain tasks.

Despite numerous vows to magistrates, she has continued to use drugs.

Last August, three months after accidentally posting the photo of an ice pipe on social media, police spotted a black BMW X5 in Southbank just before 1am on August 16.

The vehicle was flagged due to links to someone with a firearm prohibition order and outlaw motorcycle gang associations.

When officers attempted to intercept it, she bolted.

Police didn't pursue the car, chasing Rowlatt instead - and she didn't get far.

She was arrested near Southside Tower on Sturt Street, allegedly carrying more than 100 grams of methamphetamine, along with GHB, cash and bank cards in other people's names.

Rowlatt was still serving her community correction order for prior trafficking offences at the time of her latest arrest.

Judge Duncan Allen, who sentenced Rowlatt for her previous offending in February 2024, also presided over last month's plea hearing, during which she pleaded guilty to trafficking meth and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

The hearing was attended by Rowlatt's family, friends and boyfriend Timmy O'Dwyer.

The court heard that Rowlatt had a 17-year history of drug abuse which began when she was 19.

Despite this, and her history as a prominent drug dealer in Melbourne, Corrections Victoria had earlier assessed Rowlatt as having a 'low risk of reoffending'.

It was also determined after her February 2024 sentencing that Rowlatt only required a single day of drug rehabilitation, which was completed within three months of commencing her longer-than-usual community correction order.

This was clearly inadequate, allowing Rowlatt to relapse into drugs and offending.

Judge Allen lambasted the 'system' for contributing to Rowlatt's latest troubles, after he had previously determined she was 'wholly rehabilitated'.

'Clearly, an abject failure [has occurred],' he said.

'I didn't expect for one second anyone would tell her we don't need to see you anymore [after three months on the community correction order].'

Crown prosecutor Matthew Cookson countered by telling the court that Rowlatt was 'entirely responsible' for her reoffending after she was previously given an 'exceptional opportunity of mercy'.

Now 36, Rowlatt remains behind bars at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre - the same prison that houses mushroom killer Erin Patterson.

She has already spent more than 200 days in custody.

A Corrections Victoria support worker recently told the court Rowlatt appears more serious than ever about getting clean - though doubts remain given her past relapses and history of lying to psychologists about her drug use.

Her matter returns to court on April 30, when it will be decided if her future is in prison or a drug rehabilitation facility.