Sex-on-beach pair set to return home from Dubai

A BRITISH couple who were convicted of having sex on a Dubai beach are likely to return to the UK by the weekend, a solicitor said yesterday.

Michelle Palmer, 36, of Oakham, Rutland, and Vince Acors, 34, of Bromley, south-east London, were spared jail after appealing against their three-month sentences.

They were convicted last month of having unmarried sex and public indecency.

But a judge at Dubai’s Court of Appeal yesterday suspended their sentence.

They will now be deported back to the UK and pay a fine of about £170 (€200) for being drunk in a public place.

After the ruling, Palmer said: “It just proves our innocence after all the bad stuff that was written. That’s it.”

Andrew Crossley, a London-based solicitor representing Acors, said it was likely the pair would return to the UK shortly.

“It may take a couple of days to get their passports and their visas sorted but they should be back by the weekend,” he said.

He said Acors and Palmer, who had been on bail, were “chuffed” at the decision.

The couple were arrested after being seen in a passionate embrace on Jumeirah Beach in the early hours of July 5.

They had met earlier at an all-you-can-drink champagne brunch at a five-star hotel on the emirate.

Palmer, who was working in Dubai as a publishing executive, was sacked after the allegations emerged.

Acors had been visiting the country at the time of their arrest.

The couple always maintained they did not have sex, although they admitted being drunk.

In a statement to prosecutors, Palmer said: “We were just kissing and hugging. We didn’t have sex together.”