'My daughter is not a drug smuggler': Dad of Hull woman held in Egyptian jail

Neville Plummer said his daughter Laura, who has already been held in custody for nearly a month after £23 worth of strong painkillers were found in her luggage at Hurghada airport on the Red Sea coast, was "disappearing" before their eyes, and they fear she will be unable to cope with a jail sentence.

The painkillers, just under 300 tablets of the opiate Tramadol, as well as the anti-inflammatory Naproxen, were for the use of her Egyptian boyfriend who has a bad back.

The family has been told she could face 25 years in jail or even the death sentence. The shop worker is due to face a court hearing this Thursday in Hurghada, following two previous adjournments.

The drugs, only available in the UK on prescription, was found in her luggage which contained other gifts for her boyfriend, including shaving gel and aftershave.

Mr Plummer said: "A drug smuggler does it to make money. In Laura's case she got them for nothing. Not a penny came out of her purse. She wasn't selling them. There was no profiteering.

"Why should anyone smuggle so-called dangerous drugs into the country when there was no financial gain?"

More than 5,400 people have signed a petition calling for Laura to be freed.

After her arrest on October 9 Laura was asked to sign a 38-page document in Arabic, which she did without knowing what it said, hoping it would lead to her release.

Instead she was imprisoned in a 15ft by 15ft cell with 25 other women.

To try and secure her release she and her parents paid a total of £10,000 to two "lawyers" - but they turned out to be con artists.

Mr Plummer said Laura had expressed suicidal thoughts since being in jail, adding "She is timid. She is not the baby of the family, but we treat her as the baby of the family.

"We are distraught, upset beyond words and are terrified of the consequences that could happen to Laura."

Her MP East Hull MP Karl Turner said Laura was a "decent law-abiding woman, who has made a really terrible mistake."

He added: "I am desperate to ensure this woman's situation doesn't get worse.

"Her Dad says she wouldn't know Tramadol from Panadol. There was no guilty intention, no dishonesty. This is a naive young woman who has never had a parking ticket, never been in custody.

"She wouldn't have had a clue about what she was doing."

The MP added: "The British Government have had a long standing relationship with the Egyptian Government and I hope very much that with the help of the Egyptian authorities we can try to resolve this terrible situation as quickly as possible."

He added: "Tramadol is bought and sold on the streets of Egypt and is causing major problems. They are trying to control it. It is understandable they take these things seriously."

Mr Turner said she now had legal representation recommended by the British Embassy, who were in constant contact with the family.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are supporting a British woman and her family following her detention in Egypt."