By Wills Robinson and Gerard Couzens and Louise Eccles The two British women accused of trying to smuggle £1.5million of cocaine out of Peru will receive a dramatically shorter sentence than they could have after pleading guilty yesterday. Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum Connolly admitted trying to board a flight from Lima to Spain on August 6 knowing they had 24lb of the class-A drug in their suitcases. The maximum sentence they can receive is six years and eight months - but if they had pleaded not guilty and been convicted, they could have faced as much as 15 years in a Peruvian prison.
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Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum, both 20, were found with £1.5million worth of cocaine in their suitcases en route to Spain
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Two women were taken from the Virgen de Fatima Prison on the outskirts of Lima to a makeshift court at Sarita Coloni men's jail
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Pleaded guilty in front of a judge after speaking for half an hour each
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'I feel very bad for the pain I have caused my family,' Reid says at hearing
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Face six years and eight months in prison, down from maximum 15 years
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The pair could serve out their sentences in Britain if a transfer is agreed
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The women will be eligible for parole within three years, allowing them to return home, while it has also been suggested that they could be transferred to @placeholder to serve part of their sentences.