Do the Peru Two deserve a second chance?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2019

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2013 two young British women were caught trying to smuggle a haul of cocaine worth £1.5m from Lima, in Peru, to Ibiza. Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid were dubbed the Peru Two after a photograph of the pair being arrested at Lima airport went viral. The duo were sentenced for six years in a Peruvian prison on drug trafficking charges, but were released after serving three. Now back in the UK, Melissa is laying low, but Michaella has written a book about her side of the story. In this episode Radio 1 Newsbeat’s Serena Kutchinsky tells Michaella’s story and her desire for a second chance, and BBC Latin America correspondent Will Grant explains how that second chance is perceived in Peru. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Seren Jones and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:06.3	Hello, I'm Matthew Price.
0:07.8	This is Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4.
0:10.8	Every day we ask one big question about one big story.
0:14.0	Today, do the Peru too, deserve a second chance?
0:27.0	This is actually one of those episodes where we can't give you the answer. All we can do is tell the story and you can make your own mind up.
0:37.0	It's about two 20 year old Brits, Michaela McCollum from Northern Ireland and Melissa Reed from Scotland.
0:45.3	They became known as the Peru too after they were arrested at Lima Airport with 11
0:50.8	kilos of cocaine in their luggage, 1.5 million pounds worth.
0:54.4	They were tried, they were jailed, they spent three years in prison.
0:58.8	But now the full story is starting to emerge about what happened. Now Melissa Reed has
1:05.2	basically gone quiet on the whole thing, but Michaela McCollum has become something
1:10.9	of an influencer and now she's written a book about what happened to her.
1:16.0	Radio 1 Newsbeats Serena Kaczynski has spoken to Michaela McCullum.
1:22.0	Thanks for coming in, Serena.
1:25.0	Nice to be here, Matthew.
1:26.0	What, you're fixated by this story, why?
1:30.0	Well, it sort of grabbed me back in 2013 when I first saw the image of Michaela
1:36.3	McCollum and Melissa Reed when they just been arrested at Lima Airport in
1:40.6	Peru and you know they both looked very relatable like people you
1:44.3	might you yourself might have met on holiday and just that image really fascinated me
1:48.6	and I sort of saw it in the news and then my friend started talking about it on
	...

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