Melissa Reid’s imprisonment has devastated the whole family

Devastating impact on whole family.

It was heartbreaking to hear the father of Melissa Reid describe how badly the family have been affected by her imprisonment.

You will remember that Melissa and her friend Michaella McCollum were arrested last year in the Peruvian capital of Lima and charged with trying to smuggle 25 pounds of cocaine, worth £1.5 million.

The girls claimed they were duped and threatened into being drug mules against their will, but they were advised to plead guilty and throw themselves at the mercy of the court.

They ended up being sentenced to seven years in jail.

I have spoken to Melissa’s dad Billy, a quiet and decent man, and it’s clear he and the family have suffered greatly.

He looks stressed and haunted as he tries to make sense of his daughter’s actions.

Billy has spent a fortune on travelling back and forward to South America and on legal fees, but the emotional cost has also been very high.

Melissa has spent her 20th and 21st birthdays behind bars and she has missed her brother’s wedding.

Conditions in the jail are tough and, at a time when she should be out with friends, enjoying herself and making plans for the future, her life is on hold.

Billy has been battling to have her extradited from Peru and allowed to serve out the rest of her sentence over here. It’s been a long and exhausting process.

He has agreed to take part in a campaign video made for the Home Office and released this week to warn teenagers of the dangers of carrying drugs for sale.

The campaign slogan is ‘mules are fools, don’t be an ass’, and it is hoped that gullible people, particularly teenagers, will heed warnings.

Billy says that it was horrendous to see his daughter in handcuffs and the living conditions she has to put up with.

He also described how the family will not be able to celebrate Christmas until she is home. There will be no Christmas tree or decorations and no joy in their house.

The message is very simple if you act as a drugs mule and you’re caught you will be severely punished, especially in South American or in Asia.

Whatever happens to Melissa, her life has been changed forever and she will never be that same carefree teenager who was so incredibly thoughtless and stupid.

She has had plenty of time to dwell on her actions and to feel regret and guilt for what she is putting her family through.

Melissa might be the one who is actually serving the jail sentence, but so are her mum and dad and her friends and family thousands of miles away in Scotland.