Pregnant girl may serve her drug sentence back in UK

A pregnant London woman jailed for life in Laos for drug trafficking heard today she may be able to return to the UK to serve out her sentence.

But Samantha Orobator, 20, might have to give birth abroad because airlines will not carry her after 12 August due to her advanced pregnancy.

She was caught attempting to smuggle 680g (1.5lb) of heroin — which normally carries the death penalty. But she was spared because the communist state, which borders Thailand and Vietnam, does not execute pregnant women.

Her hopes of serving out her sentence in the UK were boosted when Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant yesterday signed a deal with the Laotian government "fast-tracking" a prisoner transfer agreement. Ms Orobator's lawyers can now bid for her release.

Ms Orabator, who was born in Nigeria but grew up in Camberwell and Peckham, was arrested last August in the capital Vientiane as she was boarding a flight to Thailand. She had concealed the drugs on her body.

She is thought to be seven months' pregnant and is reported to have artificially inseminated herself in Phonthong prison. But there have also been suggestions that she was raped in jail.

She was sentenced to life last month, but British diplomats, the London-based charity Reprieve, and her mother Jane pinned their hopes on a deal being struck for her to return..

To allow the transfer, Ms Orobator had to renounce her right to appeal and any claim alleging she was raped.