She won’t survive this, say family of Briton given 3 years in Egyptian jail
Tourist who had painkillers in her case ‘mistakenly confessed to smuggling pills’
A BRITISH woman is ‘having a nervous breakdown’ after being sentenced to three years in a squalid desert prison for carrying painkillers into Egypt.
The family of Laura Plummer, 33, fear she ‘will not survive’ the term in Qena jail, and claim she ‘mistakenly confessed’ to smuggling them.
Miss Plummer, from Hull, was arrested in October after 290 tramadol tablets were found in her suitcase.
The medicine, one of the strongest painkillers available, is legal on prescription in the UK, but cannot be taken into Egypt without permission. It can be used by addicts as a heroin substitute.
Her family, who have lodged an appeal, claimed the medicine was for her Egyptian boyfriend Omar Caboo, who has severe back pain.
They have called her ‘naive’ and ‘daft’ but not a drugs trafficker.
Miss Plummer, a shop assistant, appeared in court for the first time on Christmas Day but proceedings were halted after she broke down in tears of frustration.
Lawyers said she mistakenly answered ‘yes’ to the question: ‘You are accused of smuggling and possessing tramadol to Egypt?’ It is claimed the judge and clerk recorded her answer as a full confession to drugs smuggling.
Her lawyer said: ‘She meant that she is admitting that she had the tramadol, but not admitting of being guilty.’
The case resumed yesterday when the judge sentenced her to three years in the high-security facility in the middle of the desert and ordered her to pay a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds (£4,205). The verdict reduced Miss Plummer to tears in the dock and she cried: ‘It’s not fair.’
Her family claim that after sentencing she was forced to sign an Arabic document that she ‘did not understand’.
It is not yet clear whether she had been jailed for possession or smuggling, which carries a 25year jail sentence, or even the death penalty.
The family have complained of being left in the dark by the Egyptian authorities.
Her sister Jayne Sinclair, 40, said Miss Plummer will not make it through her full sentence.
‘If she ever makes it out of there, I will be amazed,’ she told the Daily Mirror. ‘She will probably be dead if she has to stay in there for three years.
‘She is not the strongest person, she’s already having a nervous breakdown and is being kicked and punched in the holding
‘She’s already having a nervous breakdown’
prison. We think the sentence is absolutely disgusting. We are devastated and we are speechless.’
She added: ‘The whole thing is an absolute farce – she had absolutely no idea what she was signing, they made her sign a document that was in Arabic.
‘It is a set up. She is a normal girl from a good family who works in a shop. How could she be jailed for three years for carrying three packets? Who would she be selling it to?
‘Given the evidence, we just don’t understand how they could find her guilty.’
Miss Plummer’s mother, Roberta Sinclair, who was in court for the hearing, said: ‘I’m still in shock after the verdict. It’s difficult and I can’t believe it after waiting for two months.’ Miss Plummer’s father, Neville, said he believes his daughter was ‘sentenced on the day she was arrested’ in Egypt. ‘The family are all absolutely devastated for Laura,’ Mr Plummer added.
‘It has been very distressing for everyone involved, but we have got to stay strong for Laura.
‘The last time I spoke to Laura was two days after she was arrested. To be honest, I think she was sentenced on the day she was arrested.
‘We have now got to stay positive for Laura. I will leave no stone unturned, and will let no money stand in the way of getting her the justice she needs.
‘She pleaded guilty to the trafficking when she did not even mean to plead guilty. That is not
justice, that is an injustice. I will never give up with the help.
‘It is a very sad day for the family, at what should be a happy time of the year.’
Her other sister, Rachel Plummer, told the Mail: ‘No one knows what the sentence was for.
‘I believe we find out in 60 days, when our appeal has gone through the system. We are thinking it might have been a result of yesterday’s translation error, but this is just a guess.’
Miss Plummer is said to have become ‘ unrecognisable’ after three months kept in a notorious women’s prison in Hurghada, on the Red Sea coast.
Her family said she shared a 15ft by 15ft cell with 25 criminals, including murderers, drug addicts and prostitutes. They claim she has been beaten by inmates for being a foreigner and has even contemplated suicide.
Miss Plummer’s family had expected to be let free after her lawyers pointed out that her plane ticket to Egypt was worth twice as much as the drugs. They claimed this proved she had no reason to sell the drugs.
The case has been raised with the Egyptian authorities by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt. Mr Burt told told Radio 4’s The World At One programme: ‘I am hopeful that good sense will eventually prevail.
‘This is a damning indictment actually of the Egyptian authorities in the sense that good sense and fairness certainly hasn’t prevailed in this case.
‘This is a decent woman who has made a terrible mistake who shouldn’t be incarcerated in any prison, never mind an Egyptian prison.’ The Plummers’ MP, Karl Turner, said it was clear the ‘decent, honest and hard-working Hull woman’ was not a drug trafficker. ‘Now that the judicial process has completed I have no doubt that Foreign Office ministers will be making representations to their Egyptian ministerial counterparts to see what can be done to bring this shocking saga to an end,’ the Labour MP for Hull East said.
Tramadol is a narcotic-like pain reliever for round-the clock pain and can be addictive.
It is a controlled substance in Egypt and can only be prescribed by medical professionals. It is often obtained illegally and is said to be the country’s most abused drug.
More than 3,500 people have joined a Facebook group calling for Miss Plummer’s release.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘We will continue to provide assistance to Laura and her family following the court ruling in Egypt. Our embassy is in regular contact with the Egyptian authorities.’
‘A decent and honest woman’