British beauty queen facing 20 years in Mexican jail after 'smuggling £250,000 worth of ketamine into Cancun'
21 April 2023, 18:10 | Updated: 21 April 2023, 18:15
A former beauty queen is facing a prison sentence of up to 20 years after being accused of smuggling a quarter of a million pounds' worth of ketamine into Mexico.
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Jennifer Young, 33, has already spent eight months in prison awaiting trial after being arrested on suspicion of bringing 13.080kg of the drug into Cancun from Amsterdam.
She served six months in a "horribly over-crowded" jail in the resort town before being moved to another lock-up near Mexico City.
Read more: Greek pilot strangled British wife to cover up drug smuggling, says her father
Young, who competed in Miss Derby as a teenager, didn't tell her mother that she had been locked up and was awaiting trial, instead claiming she was travelling around the country.
Her mother Angela told the MailOnline: "I'm still in shock. I knew Jenny was in Mexico but I thought she was travelling. I've only just found out Jenny is in prison.
"My birthday is in March and wherever in the world Jenny is she calls me. But she didn't get in touch and I started to worry.
"Then I got a message from her friend. I asked him where she was. After a lot of messages, he finally told me that she was in jail. I couldn't believe it.
"Then I found out the whole story. That she had been in jail in Cancun for months. It was horribly over-crowded. I don't know how many people were in her cell, but it was terrible.
"But in February she was moved to another prison outside Mexico City. She has been charged with drug trafficking but she hasn't been put on trial yet. She could get a 20-year sentence. I'm so worried."
Young has been meeting the British consulate about her case, and is expected to discuss her trial with a lawyer soon.
"The British consulate went to see her last Wednesday," Angela said. "She is fine now she has a cell to herself. It's much better than the other place. Prisoners are allowed to have visits from family members. Relatives bring in food and other things.
"Jenny says she gets three meals a day but they are very small portions.
"She is waiting for the lawyer to see her. She had been calling me before, but didn't say she was in trouble. She has been phoning me from the jail.
"She only gets five minutes and I don't know who is listening in, so she hasn't talked about what happened, it's like, 'I love you, speak to you soon'.
"I'm still coming to terms with what happened. I find sleeping difficult, but it's not about me.
"It's about how Jenny is going to get through all this," she added.
Young is listed on a website for tour guides in Berlin, where she promises to take visitors to "bars or museums or amazing nature spots or the best restaurants". She also offers trips to "funky markets, underground nightclubs and cool secret hang out spots".
