- The story of Sarah Jackson, who agreed to become a drugs courier to pay off a £3,000 debt, convinces her friend Simon Burke to go to Peru with her in order to serve as her unwitting drug-smuggling accomplice.
- In 2007, young mother Sarah Jackson found her party lifestyle in the otherwise sedate surroundings of Milton Keynes had finally caught up with her. She needed to pay off £3,000 to a loan shark "Victor, played by Ike Ononye" so she made a drastic decision. Sarah agreed to become a drugs courier, smuggling cocaine from Peru to the UK.
In order to make her trip seem like a holiday, Sarah invited her gullible friend Simon to come with her. Simon was to provide a cover of respectability and play the role of unwitting accomplice. At the last moment, Sarah tried to back out of the deal by telling the loan shark she had lost her passport. However, her creditor simply provided her with a false passport featuring a picture that looked nothing like her.
Despite the dodgy document, Sarah and Simons trip seemed to go smoothly. As she passed through check-in and passport control, Sarahs confidence grew. Once in Peru, the pair enjoyed the beauty of the Peruvian Andes. But while Simon was innocently roaming the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu, Sarah was secretly taking delivery of nearly 10kg of cocaine.
As the pair prepared to return to London, Sarah got rid of Simon at Lima airport so she could check in alone. After running a gauntlet of dogs, police and security checks, she was briefly stopped by an airline official who had doubts about her passport. Her luggage was then held up after being X-rayed. Desperately trying to hide her nerves, Sarah was convinced that the police had discovered the drugs but she miraculously made it through. The coast seemed to be clear until, all of a sudden, a polite voice asked her to wait, and Sarah was arrested by the anti-drugs police.
Meanwhile, Simon oblivious to Sarahs plight went to look for her at the check-in counter, only to be arrested and dragged into an interrogation room. Moments later, he came face to face with Sarah in handcuffs and saw the cocaine laid out before him. It was only then that Simon realised his friends betrayal.
Unfortunately, Simons shyness and stumbling speech only served to convince the police that he was as guilty as Sarah. In due course, the pair were thrown into the nightmare world of Peruvian prisons. Shunted from one holding cell to another, it was Simon who suffered the most. The filth and violence of jail was made worse by knowing it was his supposed friend Sarah who put him there. After 18 days of fear, hunger and confusion Simon and Sarah were separated. Sarah was sent to an easy-going womens jail while Simon was left to rot in an overcrowded nightmare of a mens prison.
Ten months later, the Peruvian authorities finally accepted Sarahs confession and let Simon out of prison. Yet he is still not free; he must stay and wait in Lima, living in a squalid room not much better than a cell. Only when Sarah is sentenced will he find out if he can go home or if he will be thrown back in jail. Yet the Peruvian penal system is so backed up that less than one in eight inmates at Sarahs prison have been sentenced. Simon could be waiting for years to come.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content