Peru drug pleas 'not enough'

The guilty pleas made by Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid have not been accepted because the British women need to provide more information on who supplied the drugs they were found with at Lima airport, prosecutors said.

The guilty pleas made by Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum, arrested with almost 12 kilos of cocaine in their luggage in Peru, will not be accepted, the prosecution said.

Yesterday the pair pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in front of a judge. However anti-narcotics prosecutor Juan Rosas said that as the new plea only claimed partial guilty for their actions, it would not be accepted by the prosecution.

Mr Rosas said the women would have to release a new statement, admitting they made up the story about being kidnapped and threatened. He said:

"A new statement is required by the women and they will have to admit not only that they came here to traffic drugs but also that they did not tell the truth with respect to them being kidnapped.

"They have to make a full admission of responsibility for all of the charges brought by the prosecution."

The lawyer representing Michaella McCollum has said he is unable to disclose the details of the hearing that took place on Tuesday.

Peter Madden said McCollum accepted the charges and a sentencing hearing will take place next Tuesday 1 October.

Madden said: "I intend to travel to Lima next week to attend the sentencing hearing and after the sentence is handed down by the judge, it will be possible make further comment."

Pictures have emerged of Melissa Reid and Michaela McCollum Connelly behind bars inside the court in Peru.

Read more: Peru drug pair guilty plea

For six weeks they protested their innocence but this evening, the two young women accused of smuggling cocaine from Peru pleaded guilty to drugs trafficking.

It means Melissa Reid and Michaela McCollum Connelly will get shorter sentences than if they had lost court cases and they may be able to serve some of the time back home.

Neil Connery reports:

Background: Peru drug suspects face 18 years

Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum, who pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle £1.5 million worth of cocaine out of Peru, will be sentenced next week at a new hearing.

The pair gave behind-closed-doors pleas, in the port town of Callao. A spokesman for the court in Callao said:

Read: Peru paid both plead guilty to smuggling charges

The mother of Melissa Reid, the 20-year-old British woman held in Peru along with Michaella McCollum, told ITV's This Morning that she was pleading guilty to get back to her family. Speaking ahead of today's reported guilty plea, she said:

The two had the option of pleading guilty in exchange for a lower sentence.

Watch: Melissa Reid's dad: Guilty plea 'best course of action'

A court spokesman confirmed the UK women's guilty pleas but said they had not yet been sentenced, Sky News reported.

Two UK women arrested last month trying to fly to Spain with 24lb of cocaine have pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges at a court in Peru, Sky News reports.

Irish-born Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, from Scotland, are thought to have agreed to the plea in exchange for reduced sentences.

The pair face at least six years and eight months in prison with no eligibility for parole.

Michaella McCollum Connolly and Melissa Reid have been taken from the Peruvian prison where they have been held for eight weeks to a court hearing of the drug smuggling charges.

One or both of the British women are expected to plead guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors to secure a shorter sentence.