Peru says British and Irish drug mules may have prison sentences reduced
Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum Connolly must await end of judges' strike to hear if they will avoid trial and be freed early
Police escort Michaella McCollum Connolly, of Ireland, left, and Melissa Reid, of Britain, to court to face drug-trafficking charges in Lima. Photograph: Martin Mejia/AP
An Irish woman and her Scottish friend found guilty of drug smuggling in Peruwill not now face a full trial and may have their jail sentences reduced, it emerged on Monday.
Michaella McCollum Connolly, from Dungannon, County Tyrone, and Melissa Reid, from Lenzie, near Glasgow, both 20, both admitted trying to smuggle cocaine worth £1.5m out of Lima airport in August.
The women are now expected to benefit from an early termination process whereby drugs mules are spared a trial and automatically receive a sixth off a minimum eight-year sentence. But the main hearing in their case has been cancelled because of a judges' strike.
