A British woman who was freed after spending five weeks in jail in Guyana on suspicion of drug smuggling faces imprisonment for dealing heroin in Southend, UK.
Julie Warner, 31, of Kingsley Lane, Benfleet, appeared in Basildon Crown Court on Friday to plead guilty to supplying the drug, according to Echo-news.co.uk.
The report said that the charge dates back to January 28 last year when she supplied diamorphine to Sylvia Kmetova in Southend.
In July/August 2009, Warner spent five weeks in a Guyana jail after being arrested on suspicion of smuggling two grammes of liquid cocaine.
Officers stopped Warner as she tried to leave the country from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri in July.
Guyana police were convinced they had found the drugs stashed within two pots of hair gel in her luggage and she was sent to prison while the substance was analysed, the report said.
During her confinement, her mother Denise Warner spoke to the Echo and pleaded for her daughter’s release.
The report said that Dr Bob Spink, who was MP for Castle Point at the time, got involved, promising to do all he could to secure her safe passage home.
The report added that after spending five weeks in jail she was released at the beginning of September 2009, and allowed to return home. It is not clear if she was ever formally charged.
Warner, who has always maintained her innocence, had told Echo that she received no explanation from the Guyanese authorities about her release and was given no analysis reports or charge sheets.
After pleading guilty on Friday to supplying heroin, Warner was released on bail, and will be sentenced on February 14.
