Peru drug mule Melissa Reid set to return to UK

Melissa Reid claimed she was forced to board a flight with 24lb of cocaine hidden in her luggage. Credit: Reuters/Mariana Bazo

A convicted drugs mule who was caught smuggling cocaine in Peru three years ago, is set to be returned to the UK "very soon" after appealing to serve out the rest of her six-year sentence closer to home.

Melissa Reid, 22, from Scotland, was jailed in 2013 after admitting trying to smuggle cocaine worth £1.5 million from Peru to Spain along with friend Michaella McCollum.

They both originally claimed they were forced into carrying the drugs after being caught trying to board a flight with 24lb (11kg) of cocaine in food packets hidden inside their luggage on August 6, 2013, but pleaded guilty to charges later that year.

Michaella McCollum (left) and Melissa Reid (right) were jailed in 2013 Credit: Police handout

A spokeswoman for the British embassy in Lima confirmed today that Reid had been "granted expulsion back to the UK", and would be returning "very soon".

It comes just a month after McCollum, 23, was freed under new legislation on early prison release introduced in Peru last year, after serving two years and three months.