A British beautician is facing up to 60 years in a US prison after being caught with £3.5million of cocaine at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
Kim Hall, 28, from Middlesbrough, was detained in August whilst attempting to board a connecting flight to Manchester.
The young woman claims she was forced at gunpoint to transport what she believed was $250,000 in cash during what started as a free holiday to Cancun.
Homeland Security investigators discovered the drugs, worth an estimated £3.5m, packed in two suitcases.
Kim Hall was arrested in August on her way to Manchester
Cook County Sheriff’s Office
Her family insists she is only guilty of being “stupid and naive”, as the 28-year-old now faces one of the harshest possible sentences under Illinois law for drug trafficking charges.
“The two guys started to threaten me,” Kim told The Sun. “One of them dragged me off the bed by my hair and held a handgun to my head.”
“He said, ‘I’ll f***ing shoot you.’ It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever experienced,” she recounted.
The beautician described her terror during the ordeal: “I was screaming at them to let me go. I thought, I’m going to end up dead if I don’t carry this money.”
“I couldn’t breathe and began having a panic attack,” she added. “When the full realisation of what it all meant hit me, I cried and cried.”
Her father John, 59, supported her account, saying: “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.”
She was stopped at Chicago Airport when travelling with two suitcases
Getty
According to Kim’s father, she met the men during an earlier trip to Portugal, where they presented themselves as property developers.
The men later contacted her with an offer of a free holiday to Mexico, claiming they were involved in real estate there.
“Her friend declined but she said she would go,” explained John. “She’s never been into trouble, nothing at all. She’s had a good upbringing and has always worked for her money.”
He maintains his daughter’s innocence: “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.”
“Without a shadow of a doubt she was forced into carrying this stuff back,” he added. “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.”
Kim is currently under house arrest in Chicago, permitted to leave only two days per week while wearing two electronic tags.
Her next court appearance is scheduled for tomorrow, with the trial potentially not starting for another year.
The family has already spent £28,000 on a local attorney, expressing deep concern about Kim’s physical and mental wellbeing.
Her father John has criticised the UK government’s response to the situation, saying: “When a British national is in trouble abroad, your first move is to phone the British Embassy and you expect back-up.
“I said, ‘She desperately needs help.’ I explained all this to them and all they did was give me a list of charities to contact,” he added.
If convicted, Kim could face a fine of up to $500,000 in addition to the prison sentence.