Christmas Day court hearing for woman on smuggling charges

A WOMAN from Hull who is being held over smuggling painkillers into Egypt is due to stand trial on Christmas Day.

The family of Laura Plummer, inset, said “we feel like it’s never going to end”, as they plan to attend her court date in the Arab country.

Ms Plummer, 33, has been detained since travelling to Egypt with 300 Tramadol tablets in her luggage on October 9.

The shop worker had intended to give the medication to her Egyptian partner Omar Caboo, who told her he suffered from back problems following a car crash.

Her sister Rachel Plummer, 31, said the family are fighting all they can to make the best of a bad situation and will spend December 25 in court supporting her. She said that her family will fly out to spend two hours of Christmas Day with her during visiting hours and to sit in court for the legal proceedings. Speaking from her home in Hull yesterday, Rachel said: “We just feel like it’s never going to end and it doesn’t get any easier day by day. “It’s been a nightmare for us. We hope for the best, but we fear the worst.” She said her eldest son, aged nine, had written an emotional letter to her sister to say how much he missed her. Mum of three Rachel added: “The rest of the kids don’t really know what is going on and think she’s just on holiday – but my eldest knows more about the situation.

“He said in his letter to Laura that he loves and misses her and that we are trying everything to get her home.

“Laura was close with all of her nieces and nephews – she was our babysitter because she’s the one without children.”

She said her mother Roberta Synclair, 63, will head over to Egypt to be with her daughter on Christmas Day.

“Hopefully one of us will be joining my mum but not sure who will be going yet,” Rachel said.

The family have repeatedly protested Ms Plummer’s innocence, saying she had simply made a ‘stupid mistake’.

Tramadol is available on prescription in the UK but has been banned in Egypt since 2015.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is understood to have spoken directly to the Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail about the situation.