British couple ‘shocked’ at arrest for growing opium poppies

A BRITISH woman who was thrown into an Italian jail with her husband after they were arrested for allegedly growing opium poppies yesterday spoke of their “shocking and frightening” experience.

Italian police launched a dawn raid on the Umbrian holiday home of Nina Gillis and her husband Clive, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, after a tip-off that they were cultivating opium poppies, which can be used to produce heroin.

The couple, both 58, were incarcerated at Perugia jail for three days, before a judge allowed them to go free while he considered the evidence in the case.