Third woman tells of her escape from drug gang

A third woman has told how she was targeted by the same gang said to have forced Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum to smuggle cocaine.

Sophie Lee Turley, 22, of Nottingham in Britain, says she escaped before also being made to carry drugs.

Facebook photos show Melissa Reid, her flatmate Rebecca Hughes, and Ms Turley partying in Ibiza.

Ms Turley has said she introduced Ms Reid to the man said to have forced her into becoming a drugs mule.

Ms Turley has been quizzed by police in Nottingham, where she is now lying low for fear of reprisals from the gang.

“Melissa never sold drugs or got into debt in Ibiza. She was forced into the smuggling,” Ms Turley said.

“Melissa had money saved up back home. She would never have needed to do this for the money because she was well off.

“She had been working hard back home. She had the odd bar job in Ibiza and did a few nights’ work but she did not need to.

“There is a man who got her into this. I know who he is and have pictures of him and he and his associates know who I am.”

In a Facebook conversation, Ms Turley told Melissa’s mother Debra Reid: “I met a guy whom I introduced to Mel as we was all going out one night...

“After he fuelled us all with drugs on what was a four-day binge, he had somehow managed to have both mine and Mel’s passport details and we was booked on flights.

“She was sent first and I went and hid for a few days as I was terrified.

“Mel assured me she was OK... I didn’t think it was her messaging me though.”

She told Mrs Reid that when Melissa was arrested at Lima airport in Peru, the gang gave her “24 hours to disappear”.

Speaking from Nottingham, she said: “Melissa did not know Michaella. Michaella was already with these guys when Melissa met her.

“I expect Michaella was forced into it too.

“I have not told the police everything, just what they need to know. I don’t want to get involved. There is a potential threat to my safety. I’m too scared to tell police.”

Ms Reid, of Lenzie near Glasgow, has claimed that she met a charming British man who gave his name as Jake in a disco on the Balearic island.

She said he came back with her to the flat she shared with Ms Hughes and said he would take her to see his friends.

However, she said he went on to kidnap her at gunpoint and deliver her to the drugs overlords.

Before her arrest, Ms Reid is said to have sent a Facebook SOS to her flatmate Ms Hughes claiming that the cocaine gang would kill her if she refused to co-operate.

However, she apparently begged Ms Hughes not to alert police because she feared for her life.