to hope the Foreign Office don't waste any time on Laura Plummer...

[PiffleandWiffle]

She was stupid enough to smuggle drugs into a country against their laws, got caught & got sentenced.

BBC Link

Cue the predictable wailing & cries of "it's not fair" from the family!

Personally, I'd rather the Foreign Office spent it's time trying to help people who are genuinely in trouble abroad rather than idiots drug smugglers....

Oh dear she made a big mistake and she will pay but how unkind so many pre judging her .....let’s hope those ones are with out fault in their own lives!!!!

And it's not "wailing and hand-wringing" to say that one feels sorry for someone - anyone - being sentenced to time in that prison. Who knows whether she knew what she was doing, or if the Tramadol really was for her boyfriend/husband or if she'd done it before? It's still a pretty shit position to be in.

Sometimes these sentences are cut short after a period of time when it's considered that a lesson has been learned; I think those two girls who smuggled drugs a couple of years back didn't serve the whole of their sentences. Just amazes me that people go to a country where the laws are absolutely draconian, the culture is so easily offended, and the penalties are horrifying - and yet still think they will get away with doing what they like. They must be thick or arrogant in the extreme to even try it.

The Peru Two swore blind initially that they were innocent, but then it transpired they weren't.

YANBU.
She broke the law to obtain the Tramadol here in the UK. She then took them to a country she must have known it was illegal to take them to. She's been there several times before after all. (I can't help wondering if this is just the first time she was caught).

So the prisons and justice are different to the UK. That's the chance you take breaking the law outside the UK. Shame she didn't think of this before.

No sympathy from me..

So the prisons and justice are different to the UK. That's the chance you take breaking the law outside the UK. Shame she didn't think of this before

Not even that different. Any one coming into the UK with a hidden cache of Tramadol which had not been prescribed to them would be in the same position.

To be fair the Peru Two is an entirely different case in many many ways.

There's a TAAT started up now. That won't end well...

Just amazes me that people go to a country where the laws are absolutely draconian, the culture is so easily offended, and the penalties are horrifying - and yet still think they will get away with doing what they like. They must be thick or arrogant in the extreme to even try it

^ Couldn't agree more.

Tramadol's a controlled drug. Even on prescription you have to sign a form at the pharmacy before they'll give you it. And not just the first time, every time. So however she got that amount, she's either stashed them over a period of time, or obtained them by more dubious means. And yes, three years is light, considering. ln some other countries it'd've been the death penalty and no arguments.

I used to be on tramadol years ago - I would get boxes of 100 at a time, at least once a month, probably more often since at times I was on 8 a day. Resistance to tramadol builds quickly and unlike morphine and opiates, there is a set maximum limit which you cannot exceed due to the risk of serotonin issues I believe. That makes it pretty useless as a longer term painkiller or for those with severe opiate tolerance such as heroin addicts so I'm amazed it has much street value at all to be honest. But I'm not surprised that someone could have 300 in a cupboard if they had a repeat prescription and stopped using it.

"But I'm not surprised that someone could have 300 in a cupboard if they had a repeat prescription and stopped using it."

In 2014 it was made a controlled drug, so supply is now limited to 30 days (except in unusual circumstances) and you have to sign for it and show ID each time. You're not nearly so likely anymore to just accumulate hundreds without realising.

he didn't know about it???
oh well he didn't have a prescription then, neither did she so that equals.......DRUG SMUGGLING.
her own bloody fault, no excuses. no sympathy from me.

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. No sympathy for her.

Jewels2015 no one is prejudging her, she's been tried and found guilty. We're judging her behaviour and find it wanting.

All this bullshit about Egyptian partner ffs. Who has a wife and kids. No sympathy. She knew what she was doing was wrong. Accept the punishment.

Just amazes me that people go to a country where the laws are absolutely draconian, the culture is so easily offended, and the penalties are horrifying - and yet still think they will get away with doing what they like. They must be thick or arrogant in the extreme to even try it

Egyptian law in this particular case is no more draconian than UK law. The penalty is not particularly horrifying from a UK perspective.

Drug dealers are offensive in any culture.

Southboundagain

My monthly prescription, for 30 days, is 240 tablets.

I have three boxes in the cupboard....plus the one I am using now.

Wouldn't be at all difficult for me at all.

Jewels
Yep- made lots of mistakes.
The sentence for illegal posession of tramadol in the UK is up to 3 years, I believe.
It is a controlled drug. I think I read that she brought some on line ( from where I ask? Either lying during an on line consultation or some dodgy supplier) and got some from a friend who gave her some of hers (illegal supply- another offence. )
Also did she not query why her boyfriend could not get them in Eygpt? Either his doctor did not think he needed them - so why does she know better?- or there is a reason that they are not available in Eygpt- again why does she know better than the Eygptian authorities?
She hasn't been treated unfairly.
Most posters are not being nasty- just incredulous that she got herself into this position.

I do agree that she has got off fairly lightly with the sentence - although three years is going to seem like a very long time when reading that the prison is horrific, and inmates have to rely upon family and friends for decent food, clothes and medicines. Who is to look after her? That's the point I was trying to make; this is a pretty awful penalty when she will likely find prison a hell hole.

Well done jewels all you have achieved is getting people hopping over to this thread from your TAAT to rehash stuff that was gone over 20 pages ago.

It simply isn't true that everyone has no pity for Laura, plenty of us do . But many don't and will say so quite freely - and bluntly- on Mumsnet.

Micksee before you use BLOCK CAPITALS she wasn't convicted for DRUG SMUGGLING* as it goes but for the lesser charge of possession.

Isn't it typical that we are being bombarded with pity press articles for her and yet the mourning family of one of the men who died in the Birmingham car crash last week had to read multiple stories about the drug conviction in his past. Typical disgusting double standards. I wonder why!

I am not concerned about the time they (Foreign office) are taking to deal with this. I am concerned about the money it is going to cost us tax payers sending God knows how many staff back and forth off on their jollies in the pretence of 'dealing with this matter'.

I really feel for her. I have Fibromyalgia and have been prescribed tramadol in the past - I don't like using them particularly but can see how I would just naively pack them in my suitcase and hop abroad then end up in prison.

I think the sentence is extremely harsh. As are posters quick to post judgement but then that's what MN is increasingly these days. Xmas spirit done and dusted.

I’d like to know who supplied the woman with 300 tramadol? Getting a prescription for 28 as a months supply would be difficult enough. If they were hers, she clearly didn’t need them. Her friend gave them to her? That’s a LOT of tramodol.

She needs to do her sentence. End of.