logo
'Trafficking mule' Brits stuck in hellish jails - why some do it and grim fates

'Trafficking mule' Brits stuck in hellish jails - why some do it and grim fates

Daily Mirror25-05-2025

Bella May Culley, 18, and Charlotte May Lee, 21, were arrested with a day of each other and face decades in foreign jails, but they are just two out of hundreds of British nationals languishing in foreign prisons on drugs offences
Two young British women face the terrifying prospect of decades behind bars in hellhole jails abroad after being caught smuggling drugs - but they are among hundreds of others currently locked up in prisons across the globe.
Bella May Culley, 18, from Billingham, County Durham, who was detained in Georgia on May 11 after 14kg of cannabis was found in her travel bag, faces life behind bars in the country's notorious Soviet-era women's jail.

A day later, Charlotte May Lee, 21, from Coulsdon, south London, was arrested at Colombo International Airport in Sri Lanka, with 45kg of synthetic cannabis, known as "kush," concealed in her luggage. The former TUIA air hostess could spend a year in the harsh Negombo prison before she is even sentenced.

Both women, whose cases are not believed to be connected, deny the charges they face.
According to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), more than 850 British nationals are currently locked up in prisons across the globe for drug-related offences. Offences that may carry cautions in the UK are often penalised with long prison sentences when overseas, while in 33 countries or territories, some drug offences carry the death penalty.
Young Brits often find themselves detained for months without trial and facing distressing living conditions. Prisoners Abroad is currently supporting 80 Brits between the ages of 18 and 30 held in foreign countries for drug offences. Two-thirds of these are still awaiting trial, while others are serving sentences from a year to nearly 39 years.
Here are some of the other Brits locked up abroad…
Lindsay Sandiford - Bali
British drugs mule grandmother Lindsay Sandiford has been incarcerated in a cramped cell inside Bali's hellish Kerobokan prison since 2013, where she is on death row facing execution by firing squad.

The grandmother-of-two was sentenced to death for attempting to smuggle £ 1.6 million worth of cocaine into Indonesia's capital by stuffing it into the lining of her suitcase.
Sandiford, from Cheltenham, claimed she was coerced by a UK-based drug syndicate threatening her children. But despite cooperating with authorities and assisting in a sting operation that led to further arrests, judges imposed the maximum penalty, citing damage to Bali's image.

Her appeals have been unsuccessful, and the UK government has declined to fund her legal representation, adhering to its policy of not providing legal aid for nationals abroad.
Now grey-haired and suffering arthritis, she spends days at a time knitting in the cramped five metres-by-five metres cell prison she shares with four other women prisoners, most of them poorly-educated local women convicted of drug offences.
Sandiford has expressed feelings of hopelessness, especially after the execution of fellow inmates, stating, 'I just want to get it over with. I feel like just giving up.' A rare family visit in April 2025, including her grandchildren, provided a brief respite from her isolation. Legal experts suggest potential changes in Indonesian law could commute her sentence to life imprisonment, offering a glimmer of hope for eventual repatriation.

Thomas Parker - Bali
Electrician Thomas Parker was arrested in January after collecting a package from a taxi driver containing over a kilogram of MDMA, the main component in the party drug ecstasy, near Bali's Kuta Beach. Accused of trying to push Class A drugs, the 32-year-old looked bewildered as he was paraded in front of the world's media while wearing an orange jumpsuit following his arrest.
He was initially charged with drug trafficking, which carries the death penalty in Indonesia. The charge was later reduced to concealing information after investigators concluded the drugs were sent by a friend, not ordered by Parker himself.

Police said Parker was noticed 'acting suspiciously' by officers while he was collecting the package. When officers approached him, he allegedly discarded the package in a panic and fled. However, he was traced back to the villa where he was staying and arrested.
During his trial, Parker, from the village of Seaton near Workington, Cumbria, maintained that he did not order the package and had initially refused to collect it, doing so only after a friend assured him it was safe and would not endanger him.
Prosecutors have sought a one-year prison sentence, but under Indonesian law, judges could still revisit the trafficking charge. A verdict is expected on May 27, 2025. Parker has expressed deep remorse, stating, "I am very sorry and apologise, I know it was a mistake. I promise not to repeat it again, because I really didn't know that [the package] was drugs."

Modou Adams - Peru
British male model Modou Adams flaunted his jet set lifestyle on TikTok, but in 2023 was jailed for nearly seven years in Peru after being caught trying to fly out of the country with £300,000 worth of cocaine.
The Londoner, 25, wowed his thousands of social media fans with his globetrotting under the self-styled moniker of 'boywholives', but was held at Lima's international airport as he tried to check in for a flight to London via Paris with almost three kilos of cocaine in his suitcase.

He was handed his sentence in a rapid trial 24 hours after his arrest by the same police force that held Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, the so-called Peru Two, in August 2013, and is still serving his sentence in one of Lima's notorious high-security prisons.
Modou, a former marketing and public relations intern described online as an 'experienced' model, had filmed himself posing as a tourist in Cuco, a favourite cocaine pick-up for drug mules and the city McCollum and Reid visited before their arrests, and posted selfies on the road to Andes Mountains Incan citadel Machu Picchu.
The dramatic moment he was taken into custody by two anti-drugs squad officers as he checked in for his flight was also filmed on cameras at Jorge Chavez International Airport. One of the officers used a knife to cut through the false bottom of the suitcase where the cocaine was found and held it up as Adams looked on, horrified.

Anti-drugs prosecutor Lincoln Fuentes said: 'It wasn't the first time this British national had come to Peru. The first time he had also taken drugs out of the country, most probably in the same way, with a specially-prepared suitcase.
'Each drug mule is paid £5,200 to £6,000 per drug run as well as getting all their expenses paid, including the tourist trips they enjoy to camouflage their real reason for coming here. The objective this man had for coming here was solely to transport drugs back to Britain.'

John Twell - Venezuela
John Twell is serving a 15-year sentence at the Simon Bolivar prison for foreigners in Caracas after he was caught trying to smuggle cocaine worth £ 4 million out of Venezuela in 2011. The 63-year-old from Spalding, Lincs, was stopped as he tried to board a flight to Madrid, when police found 31kg of the drug in two bags.
Cut off from the outside world and forced to do disciplinary drills praising the revolution of Hugo Chavez every day, the only time he was interviewed was when a Sky News team entered the jail in 2020.
Twell insisted he wasn't a career criminal but had made one stupid decision. "I wanted to start a business in England, I wanted to buy my own truck because years ago I was a truck driver, so I wanted to buy my own truck and start working for myself, and you need capital," he said.

He added, 'We have no telephone calls, and we have no communication. Before, when we first came here, we had a telephone call every week for five minutes or two minutes… but now we have no communication with anybody. The only way we know what's going on outside is if the gentlemen here (the guards) tell us."
Despite being estranged from his family and wanting to serve the rest of his sentence in the UK, Twell said he had come to accept his situation.
"When you've been in prison for eight and a half years, there's no point crying. Why would I cry? I'm sick as it is, it's no good me getting down and depressed as I'll get more sick."

Kim Hall - USA
Beautician Kim Hall was caught carrying 43 kilograms of cocaine packed into two suitcases through Chicago's O'Hare Airport in August 2024 after getting off a flight from Cancun in August last year.
She was about to board a connecting flight home to Manchester when she was apprehended, admitting to investigators that she'd been given the bags during a trip to Mexico to take back to the UK.

The volume of drugs seized means Hall, 28, from Middlesbrough, finds herself facing one of the harshest sentences, with Class X Felonies typically carrying up to 60 years in prison.
In November, while on house arrest as she awaited trial for the drug offences, Hall appeared on ITV's This Morning and claimed that two British men, whom she met while on holiday in Portugal, offered her a free trip to Mexico.

This week, Hall was sent back to prison after supposedly trying to leave the country ahead of her trial on May 27. She is said to have presented herself to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in an attempt to trick them into deporting her.
Judge Michael McHale wrote that Hall was 'almost successful in her attempt' to flee the United States and had a flight back to the UK booked before cops realised what was happening.
Bella May Coley and Charlotte May Lee both deny committing drug trafficking offences.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Fifth person charged as part of Exmouth murder investigation
Fifth person charged as part of Exmouth murder investigation

BBC News

time20 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Fifth person charged as part of Exmouth murder investigation

A fifth man has been charged with murder following the death of a man in Exmouth, police have and Cornwall Police said Ben Helliker, 26, of Halsdon Road in Exmouth has been remanded to appear in front of Exeter Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. Officers were called at about 00:45 BST on 31 May after a report a man had been assaulted and located in a garden of a property in Ashfield Close. Emergency services attended the location but despite best efforts of paramedics the 24-year-old local man was pronounced dead at the scene having suffered a singe stab wound, police said. The force said Zac Davies, 23, of Hawthorn Grove, Exmouth; Dylan Chadwick, 23, of Cambourne Avenue, St Helens; Ben Mason, 23, of no fixed abode, Exmouth and Thomas Ward, 24, of Russell Walk, Exeter had been charged with murder and had already appeared in added: "Two men and a woman have also been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. "They have been released on police bail while enquiries continue."

Scots mum jailed over monkey torture footage which saw macaques crucified & being dipped in boiling oil
Scots mum jailed over monkey torture footage which saw macaques crucified & being dipped in boiling oil

Scottish Sun

time21 minutes ago

  • Scottish Sun

Scots mum jailed over monkey torture footage which saw macaques crucified & being dipped in boiling oil

Sick Natalie Herron, from Airdrie, was sharing hundreds of barbaric videos in online chats BARBARIC Scots mum jailed over monkey torture footage which saw macaques crucified & being dipped in boiling oil A WOMAN involved in a disturbing global monkey torture network has been jailed for more than two years. Natalie Herron, 39, joined online chat groups which encouraged torture of macaques by offenders based in Indonesia. Advertisement 2 Natalie Herron appeared at Airdrie Sheriff Court Credit: Andrew Barr 2 Natalie Herron encouraged the torture of baby macaques in warped online forums The mum-of-two, from Airdrie, Lanarkshire, became a group administrator for the network and shared hundreds of images and videos of the abuse. Barbaric acts of cruelty included crucifixion, machete attacks and one video showed a baby monkey being dipped in boiling oil. Herron made contact online with Michael Macartney, the US-based ringleader of the network who used the alias 'The Torture King'. The group paid people in Indonesia to carry out and film the atrocities on baby long-tailed macaques. Advertisement Investigators from the National Crime Agency alerted Police Scotland and a raid on Herron's home in 2022 discovered an iPhone with 1,084 images and videos of monkey torture. Officers also discovered 4,000 messages on a WhatsApp group which had been sent by Herron discussing torture and hatred of the animals. Messages included "Oh my God the little b*****d is making my ears bleed," and "I am shocked how easily the drill went through the skull, it was like butter". Another message read: "Trying to find a video where they will kill the mum and the babies watch." Advertisement Herron appeared at Airdrie Sheriff Court where she was sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment. She had earlier admitted two charges of possessing and distributing obscene material, namely videos depicting animal torture, between October 2021 and September 2022 at her home address. Shocking moment dog walker drags animals by their leads & hurls them into home as owner's pal slams 'sickening' footage She admitted a further charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner likely to cause fear or alarm by sending messages to various online and social media groups which described and promoted animal torture. The court was told she made payments to Macartney but she claimed it was not for the videos but to "help him". Advertisement Nicky Matteo, defending, said: "In all the years I have been practising I have not seen a case like this. It has not been a pleasant experience. "She has had horrific problems in life and she built up a connection with other group members. "She was trying to ingratiate herself with other members, it was a false sense of escapism. "She is no longer the person that was responsible for sending those messages. She recognises the severity of it." Advertisement Sentencing Herron, Sheriff Derek Livingston said: "The fact you not only joined these groups but then helped to facilitate them only helped to increase the animals' suffering." A BBC investigation uncovered the warped network that began life on YouTube before it moved to private groups on the messaging app Telegram. The online group paid for baby long-tailed macaque monkeys to be taken from their mothers in Indonesia and then tortured and killed. Members, who claimed they were angered at the monkeys destroying land in Indonesia, even voted on proposed methods. Advertisement Last year Adriana Orme, 56, from Upton-upon-Severn, and Holly Le Gresley, 37, from Kidderminster, were jailed after admitting being part of the global network. Worcester Crown Court heard graphic details of the suffering experienced by young macaques in Indonesia - with the footage sold to people around the world. Le Gresley was jailed for two years while Orme was handed a 15-month term. Macartney, 51, was also jailed last year after pleading guilty in the US state of Virginia to conspiracy to create and distribute animal cruelty videos. Advertisement He was given three years and four months behind bars. This investigation was part of a wider operation with the National Wildlife Crime Unit, which saw Herron arrested on Wednesday, 7 September, 2022 following intelligence from the National Crime Agency. This is the first time someone has been sentenced in Scotland for cruelty that took place abroad, making it a landmark case. Officers said this was one of the most horrific cases they had dealt with and the material was like nothing they had seen before. Advertisement Detective Sergeant Karen Murray said: 'This was a long and complex investigation which involved a number of organisations including the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) and was the first of its kind in the UK. 'Thanks to the work of these organisations Herron will now face the consequences of her actions which led contributed to the cruel torture and immense suffering of a number of innocent animals. 'Through dedicated police work, the investigation team was able to show that Herron was watching and distributing this horrific material and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who worked on it. 'This was one of the most disturbing and graphic cases we have worked on and we hope this sentence shows that even though the cruelty took place abroad, that these types of crimes will not be tolerated and we will use all the tools at our disposal to hold people accountable.' Advertisement Detective Inspector Mark Harrison from the National Wildlife Crime Unit said: 'This investigation is truly shocking and unsettling. "The people involved are not just motivated by money, this is also about getting some sort of gratification from watching animals being tortured and then sharing those images with others. 'It has been well documented in the media recently what impacts these sorts of online images can have on people, especially young people and there are proven links between those involved in animal cruelty and violence towards people, so we take it very seriously. 'This investigation is part of a larger transnational investigation that the NWCU has been assisting with and the NWCU would like to thank Police Scotland for their hard work and dedication on this case. Advertisement "It shouldn't be underestimated the impact that working on a case like this can have on those involved. 'Wildlife crime can occur in many forms and the NWCU will continue to work with partners from across the world to ensure that we have the expertise, resources, and skills to fight this type of crime however it may occur.' Anyone who has any concerns around this type of behaviour is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101.

EXCLUSIVE Unmasked: The Deputy Head teacher who started sexual relationship with pupil in his office but escaped justice for a decade
EXCLUSIVE Unmasked: The Deputy Head teacher who started sexual relationship with pupil in his office but escaped justice for a decade

Daily Mail​

time23 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

EXCLUSIVE Unmasked: The Deputy Head teacher who started sexual relationship with pupil in his office but escaped justice for a decade

A disgraced deputy headteacher who groomed a sixth-form pupil and had sexual liaisons with her in his office was able to dodge justice for a decade - after bosses at the prestigious girls' school failed to alert watchdogs. Philip Culling, 52, was director of music at Godolphin and Latymer School in west London - where former pupils include Nigella Lawson, Kate Beckinsale and Davina McCall - when he began an affair with teenager. Despite being married with three children and responsible for pupil safeguarding, Culling engaged in a series of sexual encounters with the student - including intimate liaisons in his office and a cupboard tryst that was interrupted by a dinner lady. His fling with the 19-year-old was said at the time to have been an 'open secret' among staff at the elite private school, where yearly sixth-form fees now cost more than £30,000. However, Culling was allowed to quietly resign in 2014 without facing a disciplinary hearing, thereby escaping any kind of sanction and enabling him to continue working in education. He resurfaced in the classroom just two years later, landing a role at the exclusive Holland Park Pre-Prep and Nursery in 2016. It was not until June 2022 - eight years after his resignation - that a whistleblower came forward, triggering a formal investigation into the teacher's past. Now, more than a decade after the affair, Culling has finally been banned from the teaching profession for life. In a damning ruling, the Teaching Regulation Agency said Culling had embarked on an 'inappropriate sexual relationship with a vulnerable pupil' and was 'in pursuit of sexual gratification'. Panel chair Jo Palmer-Tweed said: 'Mr Culling was a child protection officer at the school, and as such had appropriate training in safeguarding. 'Despite this, he took advantage of the position of trust he was in towards a vulnerable child for his own gratification.' Culling had sexual encounters with the pupil in his office and a cupboard tryst when a member of catering staff unwittingly walked in and 'had not been aware that they were there'. The panel heard how the besotted pupil performed a sexual act on Culling after the school's annual jazz night, where she had sung both solo and with the swing band. The pair met secretly, kissed in parks, embraced in the school lift and had sex for the first time on the night of the school's leavers' reception in June 2013, the watchdog was told. After the teenager left the private school in June 2013, Culling visited her home for sex while her mother was out. The hearing was told: 'Mr Culling came around, approximately once a week, and that they would talk and have sexual intercourse. She stated that she moved into a flat in late August 2013, and that a lot of sexual acts including touching and oral sex happened in very public areas.' The hearing was told how Culling bought the pupil gifts, referred to her as 'the LOML' - love of my life - and signed a Valentine's card addressed to 'by far the most gorgeous and wonderful person in the entire world'. The hearing was told how Culling bought the pupil gifts, referred to her as 'the LOML' - love of my life - and signed a Valentine's card addressed to 'by far the most gorgeous and wonderful person in the entire world'. Pictured together in 2014 In one message, he admitted: 'I haven't stopped TOY [thinking of you] for approximately two years.' An earlier email referenced her being '52 hours away from being a legal adult'. Goldolphin school leaders did not contact police or teaching regulators because they believed the relationship had only commenced when the teenager left the school. The pupil told the teaching misconduct hearing that Culling had 'asked her to lie' about the relationship in 2014 fearing he would lose 'his job and livelihood'. The panel heard: 'She stated that Mr Culling told her what to say, to make it sound as if the relationship was as recent as it could be.' The watchdog said: 'The panel heard evidence of the long-term impact on [the pupil] including the shame she feels as a result of their relationship and of having been coerced to lie to protect him. 'It has tainted her memories of her school experience, and she referred to having 'struggled to see herself in a good light'. 'Mr Culling's conduct led to [the pupil] being exposed to, or influenced by, his behaviour in a harmful way.' Culling, whose then wife Rebecca also worked at the school, denied having feelings for [the pupil] - known as Person B in the report - until she had left. But the panel found: 'There was a gradual progression from exchanging emails of a personal nature, establishing contact outside of school hours and via personal mobile phones, sharing their appreciation for music and humour, then a tentative exploration of Mr Culling's feelings for Person B before physical contact was established in the form of hugs, kisses and ultimately sexual contact.' The panel ruled Culling was motivated by a desire for 'sexual gratification'. In 2023, as disciplinary proceedings loomed, Culling contacted the pupil on Whatsapp in a bid to convince her not to aid the investigation, telling her: 'I'm hoping you'll agree with me that it is best not to engage with it. You can't be made to.' Mail Online revealed in 2014 how Culling was head of music and spent many hours helping the pupil with her goal of a career in the industry. In now-deleted videos posted on YouTube, the teenager is seen singing pop songs while Culling accompanies her on the piano. In the caption to one video, she revealed she 'wrote this song about loving someone who you shouldn't and just wanting things to be simpler'. In another, she sang: 'I thought I had been in love, but that was until I met you.' The TRA has now banned Culling from teaching indefinitely, with no review period. He was not present or represented at the hearing in Coventry, West Midlands. The panel found him guilty of unacceptable professional conduct, ruled he had brought the profession into disrepute and had displayed no remorse. It concluded: 'Mr Culling sought to conceal the extent of his relationship with Person B during the School's investigation and coerced Person B into lying for him. 'This continued by Mr Culling seeking to coerce Person B into not giving evidence in these proceedings, with the objective of frustrating the process.' Signing off on the ban on behalf of education secretary Bridget Phillipson, civil servant Marc Cavey concluded: 'The findings of misconduct are particularly serious as they include a teacher engaging in a sexual relationship with a vulnerable pupil as well as behaviour that was coercive, dishonest and lacked integrity.' Godolphin and Latymer School, based in Hammersmith, has around 800 female pupils between the ages of 11 and 18.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store