HOPES that the jailed "sex on the beach" city woman will be able to serve out her prison sentence in the UK are fading.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office confirmed yesterday that there is no prisoner transfer agreement existing between the two countries.
It therefore looks increasingly likely that 36-year-old Michelle Palmer could be facing three months locked u
p in Dubai if her appeal fails – in conditions described by former inmates as spartan at best.
Minutes after being found guilty yesterday at Dubai’s Court of First Instance of having sex outside marriage – a criminal offence in the United Arab Emirates – her lawyer immediately launched an appeal.
The former advertising worker at Peterborough’s Max Power magazine, had been spotted in a compromising position with a man on Jumeirah beach in Dubai, a popular tourist destination in July
However, a leading city lawyer believes the British Consulate will be working with the courts to try and help Miss Palmer and her 34-year-old co-accused, Vince Acors, from Bromley, in Kent.
President of the Peterborough Law Society Jeremy Roberts described the punishment meted out by the court as “harsh”.
He said: “If it had occurred here it would be unlikely to have been an offence. It’s only if you are caught in a compromising position and someone complains. Because the couple are currently in Dubai they will not be able to leave the country while the appeal is lodged and they are on bail.
“Occasionally countries will allow people convicted abroad to serve their sentence in their own country. There was a recent case where a Liverpool fan arrested in Belgium was allowed back home to do so. But in this instance it would appear that the courts in Dubai want the sentence serving there.
“Prison will be much more harsh there then it would be over here.”
Despite British concerns about the severity of the sentence, senior prosecutor Faisal Abdelmalek Ahli expressed disappointment after the trail at the lightness of the sentence.
He said it was normal for a sentence to be six months to a year for an offence such as this, and he said he expected Acors and Palmer to serve their full three-month term in a Dubai prison.
MP for North West Cambridgeshire Shailesh Vara, in whose constituency Miss Palmer used to live, said in view of the prison conditions in Dubai, he still hoped she would be allowed to serve her sentence in Britian.
In England and Wales the offence would be covered by The Sexual Offences Act 2003, which does not specifically legislate against sex on the beach so long as the act is consensual and there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.
The duo were also fined 1,000 dirhams (£155) and ordered to be deported by Judge Hamdi Abul Kharr.
The full article contains 484 words and appears in Peterborough ET newspaper.
