A British beautician who is facing 60 years behind bars in the United States after Homeland Security officials found 43kg of cocaine in her possession is speaking out. Kimberly Hall insists she is innocent and was forced to carry the bags at gunpoint. The 28-year-old says she collapsed in tears after she was handcuffed and hauled off to jail in the United States.

Hall told The Sun: “I’m not a bad person. I’ve never been in trouble in my life and I’m not guilty of what they are accusing me of. They held a gun to my head and threatened to shoot me. I’m not a drug trafficker and I’m going to fight with every bone in my body to prove my innocence.” Hall explained how she was offered a free holiday to Mexico by two British men she befriended on an earlier break to Portugal. Towards the end of her week-long trip to Cancun, the men asked her to take two suitcases home with her, which they said were full of $250,000 in cash.

The beautician from Middlesbrough, said: “I agreed to it because there was no reason not to. It was just money and I didn’t see anything wrong in it. I had no suspicion that this was about drugs. But as I got set to return home, things became messy. There was a mix-up over the times that my flight was due to leave and I missed it. I started panicking because I had beauty work booked and my mum Tracy was expecting me home."

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She continued: "She was on the phone saying, ‘What’s going on?’ I then missed a second flight because I didn’t have an ESTA (electronic US visa). The two guys started to threaten me. They were annoyed because they thought I was trying to avoid taking the suitcases. One of them dragged me off the bed by my hair and held a handgun to my head. He said, ‘I’ll f***ing shoot you.’ It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever experienced. I was screaming at them to let me go. I thought, I’m going to end up dead if I don’t carry this money. At first they were the nicest people but by now they had taken my phone and my passport off me.”

Hall has been held on house arrest at a hostel in Chicago. She is allowed out for 2 days a week where she is required to wear two electronic tags on her ankle. She has since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder - with her psychiatrist claiming she was in the middle of a manic episode when she agreed to carry the suitcases. Hall is set to appear at Cook County Jail in Chicago later this week where she will be likely given a trial date. If found guilty she could face up to 60 years in prison.