THE DAD of a Brit beautician facing up to 60 years in jail in the US after allegedly smuggling £3.5million worth of cocaine has insisted she is “only guilty of stupidity”.
John Hall, 59, defended his daughter Kim, 28, after she was detained at Chicago’s O’Hare airport as she was waiting for her connecting flight to Manchester.
The dad said she was offered the free holiday by people she met on an earlier trip to Portugal.
And he insisted all she is guilty of is “stupidity and naivety” as they desperately wait for news.
John said that she is “petrified” – and that at first she could barely speak to her family through floods of tears after the arrest.
The dad is convinced that Kim would have been “forced” to carry the drugs “without a shadow of a doubt”.
John told The Sun: “She’s not a drug smuggler.
“She was told that it would be money she was carrying. They got her phone and threatened her family and that’s why she did it.
“She’d been to Portugal with a friend and met people over there who contacted her when she was back saying they were into real estate in Mexico and she could go for a free holiday.
“Her friend declined but she said she would go.
“She’s never been into trouble, nothing at all. She’s had a good upbringing and has always worked for her money.
“The only thing she’s guilty of is being stupid and being naive.”
Homeland Security investigators swooped after finding 43kg of cocaine in two suitcases.
Kim insists she was forced to carry the bags for two men who had offered her a free holiday to Cancun but threatened her once she was there.
The self-employed beautician, of Middlesbrough, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver after her arrest in August.
As the amount she was allegedly found with is more than 900 grams the offence is in the top bracket for sentencing – it is a Class X Felony which carries 15-60 years in prison.
She has already made a number of preliminary appearances at the Circuit Court of Cook County and is being held in Chicago awaiting trial, which could be a year off.
Without a shadow of a doubt she was forced into carrying this stuff back
John Hall
Her family, who have had to shell out £28,000 for a local attorney, are terrified about her physical and mental well-being.
John added: “For the first few weeks, you couldn’t speak to her for the tears.
“She said: ‘You don’t understand what they were threatening me with’. That’s as much as we can get out of her.
“She’s petrified.
“Without a shadow of a doubt she was forced into carrying this stuff back.
“And I’m not just saying that to try and protect my daughter.
“I’m telling you that as a father who knows a daughter inside out.”
A Cook County court spokeswoman said: “Her next appearance is on November 13.”
