An ex-Miss England beauty queen who was detained on suspicion of smuggling ketamine worth £250,000 is now facing 20 years in prison in Mexico.
On a flight from Amsterdam to Cancun last year, Jennifer Young allegedly had 13.080kg of the narcotic concealed in bottles and packages in a fake bottom of her luggage.
‘In the arrivals of Cancun International Airport, citizen Guards and airport workers uncovered multiple packets and bundles that seemed to be cocaine hidden in a secret layer of a suitcase belonging to foreign citizen,’ read a tweet from the Mexican police at the time.
Young, a Miss Derby contestant when she was 17, spent months in an overcrowded jail in Cancun before being transferred to a prison close to Mexico City in February.
The 33-year-old fashion model kept her family in the dark about her plight for over six months, telling her heartbroken mother Angela she was simply travelling around the country.
However, she finally learned the truth just five weeks ago, when her only daughter failed to phone her to wish her a happy birthday.
Speaking to MailOnline, Angela said: ‘I’m still in shock. I knew Jenny was in Mexico but I thought she was travelling. I’ve only just found out Jenny is in prison.
‘My birthday is in March and wherever in the world Jenny is she calls me. But she didn’t get in touch and I started to worry.
‘Then I got a message from her friend. I asked him where she was. After a lot of messages, he finally told me that she was in jail. I couldn’t believe it.
Young, who was born in Germany to a British mother and German father, spent much of her life working abroad as a model and a tour guide, after leaving her hometown of Derby aged 19.
Angela added: ‘The British consulate went to see her last Wednesday. She is fine now she has a cell to herself. It’s much better than the other place.
‘Prisoners are allowed to have visits from family members. Relatives bring in food and other things.
‘Jenny says she gets three meals a day but they are very small portions. She is waiting for the lawyer to see her.
‘She had been calling me before, but didn’t say she was in trouble.
‘She has been phoning me from the jail. She only gets five minutes and I don’t know who is listening in, so she hasn’t talked about what happened, it’s like, ‘I love you, speak to you soon’.
Young faces a sentence of up to 20 years if she is convicted of drug smuggling – one of the most serious crimes in Mexico.
A Foreign Office spokesman last night confirmed the British Consul in Mexico is providing assistance to a British national in Cancun and her family in the UK.