Drug Smuggler Back In Scotland

23 June 2016, 06:41 | Updated: 23 June 2016, 06:42

Drug mule Melissa Reid has spent the night on home soil after spending nearly three years in jail in Peru.

The 22 year old Scot arrived at Glasgow Airport around 10pm on Wednesday after completing the last leg of her journey to the UK from Lima.

Reid, from Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, was caught in August 2013 with 23 year old Michaella McCollum, from Co Tyrone, trying to smuggle cocaine worth 1.5 million in food bags from Peru to Spain.

The pair - nicknamed the 'Peru Two' - were jailed for six years and eight months after admitting the offence.

But a judge last month ordered Reid to be expelled from the South American country under an early release scheme for deporting first-time drug offenders.

Reid, who is understood to have travelled to Scotland on a flight from Amsterdam, was accompanied by her father Billy.

She did not appear before waiting media at the international arrivals area.

It is understood she accepted an airside transfer.

McCollum was freed in March under new legislation but was required to remain on parole in Peru for an undisclosed period of time.

The two women had initially claimed they were forced into carrying the drugs - around 24lb of cocaine - but then pleaded guilty to the charges.

McCollum and Reid faced the prospect of a maximum 15 year prison term but struck a behind closed doors plea bargain to secure the shorter sentence.

Around 9 in 10 of the 1,809 foreigners in Peru's prisons are either sentenced or awaiting trials for drug trafficking.

Reid's father has previously said the impact of his daughter's crime on his family had been 'horrendous', and spoke in a video warning of the consequences of drug offences abroad.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: ''We continue to provide assistance to Melissa Reid and remain in contact with her family and local authorities.''

On a special support page set up for Mellissa on Facebook, her auntie's sent her heartfelt thanks to the 'so many kind people' who have got in touch.

She says Melissa will be touched by all the love shown to her, over the years, when she's shown all the massages.

It is understood Reid, who has served about a third of her sentence, will not have a criminal record in the UK as a result of her conviction in Peru.