Clarity call over Dungannon drugs mule prison move

Recently, it was confirmed that the 21 year-old, who was stopped with £1.1 million of cocaine in her possession at Lima airport last year, will serve the remainder of her prison sentence in Northern Ireland.

Maurice Morrow said: “When the solicitor for Michaella McCollum confirmed that a transfer request had been accepted, this information apparently came from the Irish government.

“It is important we know exactly what role the Irish government had in this process and whether they made the request for her transfer.

“Once accepted, of course, it has been passed to the UK authorities, and it will be UK taxpayers in Northern Ireland who will bear the cost of her remaining time in prison when the transfer occurs.”

The DUP MLA continued: “Whilst transfers of prisoners serving their sentence abroad do take place, the questions in this case are about the role played by another government in the transfer to a prison not under their jurisdiction,”