British woman accused of drug smuggling into Egypt jailed for three years

While the pills are legal in some countries and throughout the United Kingdom with a prescription, they're illegal in Egypt, according to the BBC.

Ms Plummer's family, who have described her as "naive", said she was taking the tablets for her Egyptian partner Omar Caboo, who suffers from severe back pain.

The black market for Tramadol has grown in Egypt over the past decade, with many using the drug recreationally as a heroin substitute.

The family's local MP Karl Turner said: "I think it's a damning indictment about good sense and fair play". "She doesn't deserve that", she continued. She has maintained her innocence ever since, saying that she had bought the tablets found in her suitcase only for her partner and had no idea that they were illegal in Egypt.

Her mother, Roberta Sinclair, told The Daily Mail, "She's the kindest person". I was anxious about her before, [when she was] in the police station.

In an interview with the British newspaper the Guardian, Rachel Plummer - Laura's sister - expressed her shock at the final verdict.

She added that she did not know when the appeal would be heard.

Plummer was detained on arriving at the Red Sea resort of Hurghada for a holiday with her partner, Omar Caboo. She made no effort to hide the tablets, which the BBC reports she obtained from a friend.

Her lawyer Mohamed Othman said a plane ticket which showed she paid twice as much for her flights as the drugs were worth shows she was not looking to sell them. Even half of that would be better.

According to her family, Laura has been held in a packed cell with 25 other female prisoners since her arrest in October, and has been having suicidal thoughts. The young shop assistant might consider herself lucky - earlier she'd been told that she might be facing 25 years in jail or even the death penalty.

She said the family were trying to find out more details about what happened in the courtroom on Tuesday.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "We will continue to provide assistance to Laura and her family following the court ruling in Egypt, and our embassy is in regular contact with the Egyptian authorities".