To not feel any sympathy for drug-smuggling women?

[DarceyBissell]

Just that really. Two young women facing 25 years in a Peruvian jail for trying to smuggle 11kg of cocaine. Saw they described as 'vulnerable' in one paper. Hardly. Greedy and stupid though.

and, by the way, I am not claiming that the Peruvians don't have the right to punish this pair according to their own justice system. They do have that right.

I just as a human being, as a mother, and as a person who has made mistakes and paid for them and learnt from them, I feel sympathy for them. I judge a couple of 20 year olds less harshly than I judge the cartel honchos though.

public humiliation should be the least of their worries and quite frankly they should be fucking ashamed! something would have gone seriously wrong with the justice system if they emerged from it without feeling humiliated- humiliated is the least they could have the good grace to feel!

ashamed yes. That's what I mean. Their shame is so public.

well had they been successful it would have been the public that would have been affected so I see no problem with the public attention this has received.

I couldnt care less if they are publicly humiliated. Drug dealers, drug peddlers, repulse me. They help to put death on the streets. If this pair had got away with it theyd have been on a nice little earner and I believe moral outrage is because theyre 2 British women and by virtue of that fact alone, should be treated leniently. As soon as a British woman is caught drug smuggling, the 'hellhole' talk starts and its only because its foreign jails, not our oh so nice British jails.

Smuggling that amount of drugs is a very serious crime. I would hope they get a fair trial and if they have no good explanation as to why they travelled to Peru, passed security points etc then it would be wrong for their sentence to be too lenient. Young people make mistakes, as has been said..how many make THAT kind of mistake..supposedly unknowingly? I doubt theyll get long sentences anyway, with all the fuss being made..so theyll be fine and can write a book about it all in a few years if they want to

I guess so stephenfrysaidso, however, I still can't put a face or a name to the person behind this deal though. So, are the right people being punished appropriately? I like to know that the right people are being blamed, in the right measure, for an appropriate length of time, ykwim?

I don't blame these girls for the demand that does exist for cocaine. Not from me, I'm not demanding it, but the demand is certainly there, and amongst an quite intelligent successful group of people I think.

I had a cousin who went to Peru about ten years ago and got her backside locked up for drugs smuggling. I haven't even told her that I know and I never asked her brother the details as this was the SECOND time that she had been caught and incarcerated. I feel sympathy for these young WOMEN (not "girls") insofar as incarceration is not pretty. But let's not be silly here. These two women love the ray-ray and fast, "non boring" life. They were not in Ibiza to learn Spanish, were they? I've seen this phenomenon so many times. Greedy, indisciplined, wouldn't have a clue about delayed gratification females who are not "forced" into drugs smuggling. Cheap, too.....I mean the money that they would have got (if the smuggling was successful) wouldn't have even been a deposit on a thatched hut, would it? So add "no ambition" to the list of negatives. Every single one of the drugs smuggling women that I know of either went to prison, their equally criminal, easy money oriented partners were deported or killed or imprisoned, children end up going into care. The clever ones got out of the "game" and turned christian. There is a church in South east London that is full of ex "shottas" that too many of them go to now. Whilst prison wasn't the only thing that stopped their vain ways, they will happily say that it was ONE of the things.
These girls need to go to prison. They are too stupid , vain and greedy to be released into society before doing a five year stretch. "Forced", my arse....they are good time girls! Not everybody under the age of forty is dunce and easily led. My instinct tells me these girls were probably in "relations" with the ruffians who pillow talked them into making the stupid moves that they made. They should be grateful that they are British and non ethnic ( and I'm not grudging them that). I don't remember that other silly woman ( Nigerian extract) who managed to get herself pregnant in foreign chokey (slack, but I had to admire her sense of self preservation and "self help") getting so much understanding and she was facing a firing squad!

I mention Sandra Gregory not because of her age. She may have been a bit older, but she was still very young and naive

Naive I'll grant you, but it's a bit of a stretch to describe 27/28 as "very young".

I've just finished reading her memoir. If she's being completely honest, the conditions inside her Thai jail make this Peruvian detention centre look like a Butlins holiday camp.

I don't agree with the death penalty, but it's arguably a more humane sentence than 25 years in the cesspit Gregory describes in her book.

well that's a pretty damning character assassination of two women you've never met!

you are absolutely right- I only blame these two for their own parts in the whole massive industry- they are tiny dots in the grand scheme of it- but those parts attract consequences and the now they must face them. I sympathise for what they will be going through- it wont be pleasant at all- however surely even they can accept that they deserve to be there- no matter what they claim in public- they will know themselves privately what exactly happened. the other people involved may be found as a result of these arrest, they may be found in connection with another drug run in 3 years time, they may die having never received justice for their crimes but the two women in custody can do nothing about any of that- they can only accept their punishment and serve their time.

I'll confess to being a bit transfixed by the Irish one's updo.

You'd think the maintenance of Minnie Mouse ears atop your head would be the first thing to suffer in extremis but apparently not.

I don't think we are in disagreement really. And despite whatever personal feelings I have, I don't think I could get behind a campaign to have them brought back to the UK to face trial here for example. I feel sorry for them but there would be worthier causes and I wouldn't be contributing to their lawyers' funds.

Yes, on a lighter note, her hair! it's horrible! there might be more cocaine in there.

btw I was in Ibiza just over a year ago, staying right in the centre of san Antonio, a 5 minute walk from the west end. i'm a 27 year old mum of two, I've never taken a drug in my life and I drink about 3 west coast coolers every 3/4 months. I was not there for drugs or sex with 'ruffian' drug dealers I was there to enjoy myself with my cousin- we were given a horrible hotel and as a result cut our holiday short but otherwise we would have stayed the full week and enjoyed our holiday and most of the people we met. yes it's a rough hole and you cant sneeze without hitting a pill but not everyone that goes there is there for that.

it's horrible! there might be more cocaine in there.

The thought had crossed my mind but no doubt the Peruvian authorities have covered every angle...

i'd say if she isn't getting reliable access to shampoo or time to wash and brush it or maybe dry it then keeping it in a tight bun is probably the best way to avoid looking rough after a few days. her hair seems to be pretty long and if the conditions she's staying in aren't clean then she'd be keen to avoid picking up nits and other dirt in her hair.

I am so sorry for these girls (am a woman now, but looking back, until I was in my mid 20s I really was a girl).

They have been used. And discarded, hung out to dry.

From what I've read, the international drug smuggling industry recruit young, gullible, disposable young people. They lure them with threats and promises and get them to agree to bring packages across borders. They then tip off security and while all eyes are on the patsy, the real (paid up part of the gang) smuggler gets through.

No DEA official will ever say "we caught X with 6kilos of Cut-to-shit stuff. But those caught with it will be demonised, discredited and destroyed while the industry goes on.

i'd say if she isn't getting reliable access to shampoo or time to wash and brush it or maybe dry it then keeping it in a tight bun is probably the best way to avoid looking rough after a few days.

It's not a tight bun. Quite the opposite. This is definitely a highly impractical, non Cell Block H style.

Or maybe I've been exposed to too much DM coverage. I'll be asking where she bought her bomber jacket next.

I feel sorry for them.
Whatever the circumstances I feel sorry for them.

you could be right, I thought it was just a massive bun ring underneath it giving it that overinflated look. the hair on the scalp is definitely tight anyway. i'm also surprised if she's been allowed to keep her Kirby grips for fixing the bun.

I am a bit lost. English is not my first language, but still... i am very surprised at how many people feel sympathy for these women. I can understand why people are sorry... but to feel sympathy??

I am by the posters here who wish shame on these girls.

Is pain, regret, loss of freedom not enough for you? Are you so sure that your DCs will not use drugs? Or be tempted by the lure of easy money to agree to "carry a package"?

"Are you so sure that your DCs will not use drugs?"

Would these drugs be the ones these two nearly brought into the country if they weren't stop?