Husband of Brit locked up in Egypt for carrying illegal painkillers admits it was ‘all his fault’
THE husband of a British woman locked up in Egypt for carrying illegal painkillers for his bad back has admitted it was "all his fault".
Laura Plummer, 33, was jailed for three years after flying to the Middle Eastern country with banned Tramadol pills in her suitcase for Omar Abd El Azim Mohamed Saad.
Speaking for the first time since her conviction on Boxing Day, the lifeguard told the : "I’m the reason for what happened because she brought this especially for me."
The shop assistant from Hull reportedly married her Egyptian lover Omar by signing a form 18 months ago after meeting at the Red Sea holiday resort of Hurghada, where he was entertainments manager.
She was arrested at Hurghada airport in October but said she was unaware the pills, which are legal in the UK with a prescription, are banned in Egypt.
Omar told the Mail: "My heart is absolutely broken – I’m missing her so much. I did not want her to violate her life and I had no idea she would bring tramadol – I would have told her 'don’t bring it to Egypt'."
Laura's family revealed she will spend at least 10 months in prison while Omar says he is campaigning for her release and looking for a "better lawyer".
Sister Jayne Synclair, 40, said: "Her lawyer has told us that that is the time it normally takes. It's ridiculous.
"She will have served almost a third of her sentence before her appeal is even considered. They have no urgency at all over there."
It comes after mother Roberta Synclair faced a nightmare 100-mile trek across Egypt to Qena where she thought Laura was starting her three-year sentence.
But when she got there, guards said her daughter Laura, who was beaten up and robbed by other prisoners for "being foreign", had been transferred after a single night.
Jayne says her mother was "absolutely distraught", adding: "She took this long taxi trip only to be told they had moved her again. It's mental torture."
Meanwhile, disturbing reports suggest Laura has resorted to bribing inmates with food sent by her family to stop them from beating up and robbing her because "she is foreign".
The Foreign Office told her sisters not to travel to Egypt because there is no way to tell where she is but, with the help of a lawyer, the family believe she is being held in Hurghada while the Egyptian authorities decide where to send her next.
Despite the heartache, the move has given the family fresh hope that Laura might be able to serve her sentence in a safer prison close to the British Embassy in Cairo rather than the hellhole jail in Qena.
A court in the Red Sea resort of Safaga jailed shop worker Laura, 33, on Boxing Day for three years over 290 tramadol pills she had in her suitcase when she arrived in the country in October.
A judge dismissed her argument that she was taking them for back pain suffered by hubby Omar, 33, who she was visiting.
It was thought she had been due to be transferred to the notorious Qena prison – famed for torture and beatings and home to killers and jihadists – at the end of the week.
But she was woken in the early hours of Wednesday and driven the 100 miles in chains in an armoured truck to the cockroach-infested jail.
Mum Roberta Synclair, 63, said: "I didn't get to say goodbye. She'll have been terrified."
UK envoys fearful over her move to the prison had tried and failed to get her taken to one in Cairo which is near to our embassy and where another Brit is held.
The Foreign Office said: "We're assisting her and her family."
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.