'We were thrown into a torture chamber': Two London women imprisoned in China over fake Gucci flip-flops tell of ordeal

 
Mark Blunden @_MarkBlunden25 September 2013

Two London women imprisoned in China in a row over a pair of fake Gucci flip-flops told today of their ordeal.

Esther Jubril-Badmos, 48, and Mary Idowu, 59, claimed they were drugged and tortured by officials over 38 days in jail.

Mrs Jubril-Badmos, a mother-of-five from Enfield, is a jewellery and clothing importer and Mrs Idowu, a grandmother-of-five from Hackney, was advising her on styles when their troubles began during a visit to a supplier in Ghangzhou.

Mrs Jubril-Badmos said that when she refused to buy the fake shoes a brawl erupted and she was badly beaten.

She told The Sun: “We were taken to the station, strip-searched, interrogated and thrown into a torture chamber.”

Mrs Idowu added: “They threatened to strap us in a metal seat.

“It looked like an electric chair.”

The women were taken to prison, sharing a cell with 11 other women.

In a note from the cell, Mrs Idowu told her family: “This is hell, I am not doing well.”

Mrs Idowu collapsed and said she spent three weeks “chained to a wheelchair and injected with a cocktail of drugs”.

Her daughters, Sarah, 34, and Laura, 20, a law student, petitioned the Foreign Office but had to fly out to China to secure bail and pay £4,000 to the women’s alleged attackers.

The women returned to London on August 30 but said they were still struggling to cope.

Mrs Jubril-Badmos said: “I’m on antidepressants and cannot sleep.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Consular staff, both in London and China, assisted the detainees and their families in the UK, to the best of their abilities.”

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