UK officials 'to visit Laos jail'

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British consular officials in Laos are hoping to visit a pregnant Briton in prison later after she was jailed for life for drug smuggling.

Samantha Orobator, 20, from south London, was caught with 1.5lb (680g) of heroin last August.

She avoided the mandatory death penalty because of her pregnancy and now has 21 days to appeal against her sentence or apply to serve it in a UK prison.

British officials say they have applied to see her to "discuss her options".

Orobator admitted trying to smuggle heroin through Wattay airport in the Laotian capital, Vientiane, in an effort to take it out of the country to Australia.

She has been held for nine months in Phongthong prison, where she reportedly became pregnant in December.

Transfer

The UK has signed a prisoner exchange agreement with Laos, and a court spokesman in the south east Asian country said he was optimistic Orobator would qualify for transfer if she applied.

But the agreement must be ratified by both the British and Laotian authorities and it will be at least a month before it legally comes into force.

Orobator must also pay a £70,000 fine handed to her by the court before she can leave the country.

Any significant delay to the proceedings could mean she is unable to fly because of her pregnancy and would not be able to return to the UK to have her baby.

After the guilty verdict, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that British authorities would enforce any sentence imposed by an overseas court, although British release arrangements would be applied.

Once a prisoner is transferred to the UK, the High Court is asked to set a minimum period that they would have to serve before being considered for parole.

Transferred prisoners are not able to appeal through British courts.