The family of a British woman are pleading for her return as she spends her third month in a “Hellhole” prison in Dubai on suspected drugs charges.
Isabella Daggett, 21, from Leeds, had recently moved to the United Arab Emirates after landing a recruitment consultancy job.
Her family say she was arrested in March after being caught “in the wrong place, at the wrong time”.
Ms Dagget’s mother Lucinda Smith, who jointly ran a small family-owned modelling agency with her daughter, has now set up a Go Fund Me page to raise £5,500 to help bring her home.
She wrote: “To our dear friends and family. I am reaching out to you in a time of great need.
“My daughter Isabella has been wrongfully detained in Dubai, and we are doing everything we can to prove her innocence and bring her back home.
“We have proof she was not involved in these charges and are determined to fight for her freedom. The hideous conditions she is living in is enough to break any mother’s heart.
“The legal and travel expenses are overwhelming, and we need your support. Any contribution, no matter how small, will help us cover the costs of legal fees, travel, and other necessary expenses.”
Family members say Miss Daggett’s accommodation plans fell through, and she was staying in the home of her boyfriend when the police raid took place.
Her grandmother Heather Smith told MailOnline: “Bella has been locked up because she was in the wrong company. Wrong place, wrong time. Wrong boyfriend.
“She has been in prison since March but we have finally got a court date for next month.
“She was arrested with a lad, that was not her boyfriend, who she was staying with because things had fallen through with another house.”
The exact charges Ms Daggett faces have not been publicised and her family state she has never used illicit drugs and that test showed “nothing in her system”.
Her grandmother says she was planning to leave Dubai and return to Leeds shortly before her arrest.
Miss Daggett is understood to have worked for a businessman carrying out online recruitment for UK construction sites, before being offered a similar role in Dubai.
Her family say she has been unable to shower for a month or change her clothes for three months.
They add that women are treated worse in the prison than men – who have access to sports and recreation time, as well as a Playstation and television – while Miss Daggett has “nothing”.
Mrs Smith says the family gave Miss Daggett a stern warning about the strict laws and rules in the UAE and advised her to take caution.
She added: “But there was a whole sequence of events that led up to her, inadvertently, being in this bloke’s house, where she didn’t want to be. She didn’t really like him that much.g
“He may be guilty of something, but she isn’t.”
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman told the Standard: “We are supporting the family of a British national who has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates and are in contact with the local authorities.”
