Latest news with #BritishCouple
Washington Post
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
The true story of a shipwrecked couple's fight to survive
Few nonfiction books get a reader's adrenaline pumping quite like Sophie Elmhirst's 'A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck.' As I plunged headfirst into this immersive tale of a British couple who set sail alone together one morning in 1972 bound for New Zealand, I flashed on the 2003 film 'Open Water.' In it, a scuba-diving husband and wife are abandoned in the Atlantic by their tour group, who pull up anchor without noticing that the pair are still underwater. As the hours pass and the sharks circle, you feel their terror in your bones.
Daily Mail
29-06-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Revealed: The dark truth about the thousands of Chinese babies snatched from their mothers and sold to childless couples in Britain and America
Abandoned by her parents, Fu Lian Doble was left outside a bank on a wintry Boxing Day in 1999. Or at least that is according to records kept by the Chinese orphanage that took her in. But in adult life, having been adopted by a British couple she calls mum and dad, she has discovered this is almost certainly a lie because the orphanage has been exposed for buying and selling babies for international adoption. 'It really hit home how much of our identity is grounded on just a few pieces of paper, and we can't even trust those,' she says.
The Sun
28-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
Another Thai Brit smuggler suspect arrested with cannabis haul bound for UK after Bella Culley & Charlotte May Lee drama
ANOTHER Thai Brit smuggler suspect has been arrested with a cannabis haul bound for the UK, following similar cases like Bella Culley and Charlotte May Lee. The 31-year-old suspect was stopped during a transit stop on his way to Newcastle via Frankfurt from Bangkok and was led away in cuffs to be locked up in preventive custody at the Korneuburg prison. 1 The arrest took place at Vienna International Airport, a city airport on the outskirts of the Austrian capital yesterday. Customs officers found 11.3kg of cannabis packed into 13 vacuum-sealed parcels concealed among clothes in the man's suitcase. The suitcase had been checked in at Bangkok and was labelled for onward travel to Frankfurt and Newcastle. Police said the street value of the cannabis was approximately £95,000. According to police, the man, who was not named, refused to confess and made no statement about the contents of the suitcase. Officials said the investigation is being led by the public prosecutor's office in Korneuburg. It comes merely a day after a British couple claiming to be tourists from Thailand were busted with more than 33kg of cannabis in their suitcases at a Spanish airport. The pair were picked out by suspicious cops at Valencia Airport after displaying a 'nervous and evasive attitude' and are now behind bars on drug trafficking charges. The man and woman, aged 33 and 34, were stopped before reaching customs, with officials later discovering vacuum-packed marijuana and no clothes or personal belongings in their luggage. This marks the fourth case in weeks involving British nationals and alleged drug smuggling linked to Thailand. Brit woman, 21, rotting in Dubai hellhole jail without a shower for a month after being arrested on drugs charges Bella May Culley, 18, sparked a massive international search operation in early May after she was reported missing while she was believed to be holidaying in Thailand. But it was later revealed that the teen, from Billingham, County Durham, had been arrested 4,000 miles away on drug offences in Georgia, allegedly carrying 14kg of cannabis into the ex-Soviet nation. The teen - who posted online about living a "Bonnie and Clyde" lifestyle - is now in Georgia's grim No5 Women's Penitentiary near Rustavi, facing 15 years to life in prison. Her new lawyer Malkhaz Salakaia, a juvenile law specialist, said Bella didn't even know where she was when arrested. Bella is said to have told her lawyer she is pregnant and cooperated with police for the first time last week, as her anguished dad Niel visited her for 45 minutes and delivered food and clothes. And recently 21-year-old Charlotte Lee May, from Coulsdon, south London, was arrested in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo after police discovered 46 kg of 'Kush' - a synthetic strain of cannabis - in her suitcase. The former flight attendant, facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted, is claiming she had 'no idea' about the drugs worth up to £1.2 million. She insists they must have been planted in her luggage without her knowledge. Charlotte, a part-time beautician and ex-TUI stewardess, had flown into Sri Lanka from Thailand and was snapped in a white outfit and sparkly sandals just after her arrest. Her two suitcases were reportedly stuffed with tightly vacuum sealed packages of the deadly synthetic drug, 25 times more potent than fentanyl. She claims she left her packed bags unattended overnight in her Bangkok hotel while out partying and had no idea what was inside. 'I had never seen them before,' she said. A mystery British man she met in Thailand was reportedly waiting for her at Colombo airport, and sources fear she may have been under his influence. Charlotte is now holed up in the overcrowded Welikada Prison, where she's been forced to sleep on a concrete floor, clean herself with a bucket of water and survive on rice and curry. 'She is a total mess,' a source told The Sun. 'She hates the food… The prison is not fit for a rat to live in.' She broke down in court after being told she may not be sentenced for another 12 months and is now banned from contacting loved ones. Meanwhile an older British man has been arrested by police in Chile after allegedly being caught trying to smuggle five kilos of methamphetamine into the country. The 79-year-old was held after leaving a flight from the Mexican resort of Cancun at Santiago Airport. He was booked on a flight to Sydney in Australia the following day after spending a night at a hotel in the Chilean capital. The unnamed pensioner was remanded in custody following a court appearance after a judge approved a prosecution request to send him to prison pending probable charges and trial. Cops say the drugs he was apprehended with would have been worth around £200,000 on the streets of the south American country. He was intercepted after his luggage was put through an airport scanner.
The Sun
27-05-2025
- The Sun
Cruise-and-dash Brits who fled ship in Ibiza racked up huge £2,700 bill in less than TWO DAYS from booze and casino fees
A BRITISH couple arrested after allegedly trying to dodge a four-figure cruise liner extras bill 'did a runner' less than 48 hours into their luxury trip around the Med, the Sun can today reveal. Police said on Friday the pair had been held on suspicion of fraud at Ibiza Airport after 'pushing their way' off the ship when it docked on the holiday island. 4 4 Today it emerged they had been on board the Costa Toscana, a Costa Cruises vessel which was only making its second stop after leaving the French port of Marseille two days earlier, when they abandoned ship. And well-placed sources said they were about at the boarding gate of a Ryanair flight to London Stansted when they were taken into custody as new details of the incident began to surface. We can today reveal the EUROS 3,196 (POUNDS 2,685) tab the suspects, a man aged 23 and a woman aged 18, had built up included a bar bill as well as Internet expenditure and extras in the ship's casino. The Costa Toscana, which left Ibiza for Palermo in Sicily without them, docked in Marseille yesterday morning at the end of its seven-day Mediterranean tour. It was not immediately clear today whether the two Brits are still being retained in Ibiza. A spokesman for Costa Cruises, an Italian-owned cruise line whose parent organisation is Carnival Cruise Line, confirmed the arrests but said: 'For privacy reasons, we do not delve into matters concerning individual guests. 'However, any irregularities are promptly reported to the competent authorities, who have the responsibility to intervene directly to take the necessary measures." A spokesman for the National Police in Ibiza, which made the detentions, said last Friday: 'Spanish National Police officers arrested a man aged 23 and a woman aged 18 who are both British as the suspected authors of a crime of fraud for refusing to pay several consumptions during their stay on board a cruiser liner. 'The couple tried to leave the cruise liner in a hurry with their luggage, declining to pay the cost of expenditure linked to their holiday, around 3pm on May 21. "The bill for various items, linked to their room, came to EUROS 3,196 (POUNDS 2,685). Brit woman, 21, rotting in Dubai hellhole jail without a shower for a month after being arrested on drugs charges 'Police called to the scene interviewed crew members who told them the alleged offenders had tried to push their way off the ship in their attempts to abandon the vessel. 'The couple were tracked down in the island airport after detectives launched an operation to find them. 'They were held at 6pm on May 21 as they tried to leave Ibiza.' One well-placed source told the Sun today: 'They were stopped and taken into custody as they tried to board a Ryanair flight to Stansted. 'It was pretty obvious they had decided to bring their holidays to an early end when they cleared their cabin and left the ship with all their luggage. 'They stood out like a sore thumb from all the other holidaymakers who were just getting off the cruise liner for a day trip to Ibiza with small bags.' Another said: 'They were less than 48 hours into their trip when they abandoned the cruise. 'It was only on its second stop when they disappeared 'They missed out on Palermo, Rome and the Italian Riviera." It is not yet known what happened at their court appearance.
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS UK couple are 'caught with 33kg of cannabis in their suitcases' after flying into Spain from Thailand - the latest British tourists to face drug charges after flying out of the country
A British couple who claimed to be tourists coming from Thailand have been arrested at a Spanish airport with more than 33 kilograms of cannabis in their suitcases. The pair were remanded in custody after suspicious officers picked them out from other passengers arriving at Valencia Airport because of their 'nervous and evasive attitude.' They were languishing in prison today after being accused of drug trafficking. The latest arrests follow those of a string of British female smugglers caught illegally transporting drugs worth up to millions of pounds. A 23-year-old British woman in Ghana was arrested last week after being accused of attempting to bring up to 18kg of cannabis into the UK on a May 18 British Airways flight to Gatwick. Earlier this month, Bella May Culley, 18, sparked a massive international search operation after she was reported missing while she was believed to be holidaying in Thailand. However, it was later revealed that the teen, from Billingham, County Durham, had been arrested 4,000 miles away on drug offences in Georgia, allegedly carrying 30 pounds (14kg) of cannabis into the ex-Soviet nation. And recently 21-year-old Charlotte Lee May, from Coulsdon, south London, was arrested in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo after police discovered 46 kg of 'Kush' - a synthetic strain of cannabis - in her suitcase. The former flight attendant, facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted, is claiming she had 'no idea' about the drugs worth up to POUNDS 1.2 million and insisting they must have been planted in her luggage without her knowledge. Confirming the latest arrests, a spokesman for the Civil Guard in Valencia said: 'The Civil Guard and Tax Agency have arrested two people on a flight from France for carrying more than 33 kilograms of vacuum-packed marijuana in their suitcases. 'The two passengers, a British man and woman, were displaying a nervous and evasive attitude and were stopped before they reached customs control. 'They said they were coming from Thailand and were entering Spain as tourists and had nothing to declare. 'Following standard procedure, their suitcases were put through a specialist scanner which showed up a large amount of organic material in both but no clothes or personal belongings. 'The cases were subsequently opened in their presence and found to contain a substance which tested positive in the cannabis-marijuana drugs test. 'The drugs were subsequently confirmed to be 33,540 grams of marijuana. 'The British man and woman were subsequently arrested for a crime of drug trafficking and remanded in prison following a court appearance.'
