Briton charged over drugs as boyfriend dies

A British woman whose boyfriend died when cocaine he was smuggling burst in his stomach has been charged with drug trafficking.

But Marianne Telfer, 28, who is being held in a prison in the Dominican Republic, protests her innocence.

The social care manager from Colchester was arrested at the end of a holiday after her boyfriend Richard Flack, 34, collapsed in their hotel room. The former heroin addict had swallowed drug-filled condoms in a bid to smuggle them back to Britain.

Ms Telfer's parents and MP are fighting to free her. A spokesman for Fair Trials Abroad, which is helping, said: "She called the police and ambulance. She had her own ticket. She could have left and flown back to England. But she didn't."

Ms Telfer could face a 10-year jail sentence if convicted.