MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Britons to stay in Brazil prison

Brazilian police released this picture of the girls in fancy dress

The British law graduates accused of holiday insurance fraud are being held in a Brazilian prison with murderers and drug-traffickers after a judge refused to grant them bail.

Shanti Andrews and Rebecca Turner, both 23, have been imprisoned at the Polinter de Mesquita prison in Rio de Janeiro for the past five days for allegedly making false claims to police about a robbery.

The women had hoped to be released on bail yesterday. But a judge at Rio's 27th Criminal Court ordered they stay behind bars until their trial because they are foreigners, their lawyer said.

It means the friends will be forced to endure cramped and dangerous conditions until their trial, which could be weeks away.

Their legal team had expected they would be freed and face a lesser charge of making a false claim, which is punishable by up to six months in jail or a fine. But state prosecutors charged them with insurance fraud, which carries a maximum five-year jail term.

Judge Flavio Itabaiana made the ruling behind closed doors while the two graduates remained in the filthy, rat-infested prison conditions

It is understood he feared the tourists could flee Brazil - despite having their passports confiscated - as he believed the British Embassy could provide them with new passports or other travel documents.

The women's lawyer, Renato Tonini, said: “This is very bad news for my clients. The prosecutors have charged them with the more serious offence, and the judge has refused them bail. He said it was because they are foreigners and so there is a serious risk they might abscond.

”We believe it is the wrong decision by the judge and we are going to appeal to a higher court.

“The women were not in court for the ruling and they do not yet know about it.

”Unless we win on appeal it means they will remain in prison until the trial, which could be weeks away.“ A second court date is understood to be scheduled for next week. The prison is in Baixada Fluminense, a rundown district on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. They are sleeping in a corridor without mattresses because of overcrowding and are surrounded by murderers and drug-traffickers.

Their parents have issued pleas for mercy and the local British consulate has also been attempting to have them released from the prison, which has been condemned by human-rights activists.

Gang violence and murder is common, with foreigners thought to be particularly at risk.

Andrews and Turner were arrested after telling police they had been robbed of more than £1,000 of goods during a bus trip.

Suspicious officers went to their hostel and apparently discovered some of the items under their beds, including a £240 mobile phone, a £450 digital camera, a £600 iPod and a £60 white bag, all of which the women had claimed were stolen.

The women, both of whom graduated from the University of Sussex in law in 2007, maintain they were robbed but made a mistake as they reported the crime to police.

They were coming to the end of a nine-month world tour of 30 countries when they were arrested.

Speaking at the family's large detached home in Frant, near Tunbridge Wells, Ms s mother, Simone Healey, 39, said the two girls were ”absolutely traumatised“.

She added: ”It's every mother's worst nightmare.' (MP/Agencies)