A British beautician accused of smuggling £15million worth of cocaine in her suitcases, has said she accepted a free holiday to Cancun because it would be a ‘breath of fresh air’ during a difficult time at home — as she faces 60 years in jail.
Kim Hall, 28, from Middlesbrough, was stopped at Chicago’s O’Hare airport as she prepared to board a connecting flight to Manchester on August 18.
Homeland Security investigators found 43kg of cocaine packed in two suitcases and detained the young woman, who is being held in a safe house before her trial.
Ms Hall is facing 60 years in a US prison, but has insisted ‘I am not guilty of what they’re saying that I am’. She claims she agreed to bring a suitcase home for a pair of British men under the belief it contained only cash.
After meeting the pair on an earlier break to Portugal, Ms Hall claims they offered her a free holiday to Mexico and asked her to take the money back home to their family because ‘one of them had lost their passport and they were in trouble’.
Speaking to ITV’s This Morning today, Kim said she accepted the free holiday because she needed ‘a bit of breathing space’.
‘I just had a lot going on at home at the time and I just needed a bit of breathing space so it was a breath of fresh air really to go there,’ she said.
‘I spent the holiday alone really for the whole week, I just met them briefly at the beginning and then I spent a lot of time on my own.’
Kim Hall, 28, from Middlesbrough, (pictured) was stopped at Chicago ‘s O’Hare airport as she prepared to board a connecting flight to Manchester on August 18
Speaking to ITV’s This Morning today Ms Hall said ‘I am not guilty of what they’re saying that I am’
Ms Hall added: ‘They just said that one of them had lost their passport and they were in trouble and needed to get some money home to their family.
‘It just seemed really legit and straight forward[…]I was going to go as a holiday, take a break and just do them a favour by bringing back this money to give to a member of their family.’
When her week-long trip to Cancun was coming to an end, Ms Hall claimed the men asked her to take two suitcases back with her, which they said contained $250,000 in cash.
Ms Hall claims she raised concerns with the two men about the money being seized at the airport but they allegedly told her she had nothing to worry about and that the money could be justified.
‘They certainly didn’t come across as being criminals,’ Ms Hall added.
Ms Hall added: ‘At the end of my trip they said was you give us your suitcase…we will send that back to the UK for you because you’ve got two suitcases to carry.’
The beautician claimed she missed her first flight due to a mix up with timings, after which point ‘things changed dramatically’.
She said: ‘I went from staying in a nice hotel, just enjoying the sun and having a nice holiday to being taken to a converted warehouse in the middle of Cancun which was surrounded by nothing.’
Kim Hall, 28, (pictured) is accused of smuggling £15million worth of cocaine in her suitcases
Kim is pictured with her mother Tracy. Kim’s parents have both insisted she is innocent
Ms Hall has since been diagnosed with Type 1 Bipolar her father revealed on This Morning today
An aerial of Chicago O’Hare International Airport, where Ms Hall was searched and detained
Ms Hall said she did not look inside the suitcase because she ‘didn’t want to make the situation worse’ if any money were to go missing.
When Ms Hall finally caught a flight home, she landed at Chicago’s O’Hare airport for a connection to London, which is when officials carried out a random bag check as they were suspicious of her having two suitcases.
The young woman collapsed in tears as she was handcuffed and taken to prison.
Ms Hall is now on house arrest and is only allowed out two days a week, with two electronic tags attached to her.
She told This Morning today she would not name the men involved and did not intend to out of safety for herself and for her family, saying ‘that’s just not something that’s possible’.
Since being in house arrest, Ms Hall’s father John who appeared with her on the show today, said she has since been diagnosed with Type 1 Bipolar.
Ms Hall claims she agreed to bring two suitcases home for a pair of British men under the belief the bags contained only cash
Cook County Jail in South Lawndale, a Chicago community on the West Side
Mr Hall, 59, previously defended his daughter, saying all she is guilty of is ‘stupidity and naivety’.
He told the Sun: ‘She’s not a drug smuggler. She was told that it would be money she was carrying.
‘They got her phone and threatened her family and that’s why she did it.
‘She’d been to Portugal with a friend and met people over there who contacted her when she was back saying they were into real estate in Mexico and she could go for a free holiday.’
He added that she is ‘petrified’ after telling him that ‘you don’t understand what they were threatening me with’.
After her arrest in August, Ms Hall was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver after her arrest in August.
Due to the amount of drugs seized, the offence is in the top bracket for sentencing, with Class X Felony which carries 15-60 years in prison.
