Stewardess's drugs trial verdict due

Katherine Jenkins' second trial was in Dubai

The verdict is due on Sunday in the case of a Welsh woman charged with drugs offences in the United Arab Emirates.

Katherine Jenkins, 31, from Neath, has been in custody for 16 months accused of possession of cocaine in spite of being cleared of any wrong-doing at an earlier hearing.

Still in custody after 16 months: Katherine Jenkins

She is on trial in Dubai with two other Britons, an Australian woman and another woman whose nationality is not known.

Ms Jenkins denies being part of a drugs-smuggling gang, but has admitted hiding cocaine allegedly left in her apartment by the Australian woman.

She has always said she found thousands of pounds worth of cocaine in her apartment and hid it, believing it to belong to her co-defendant.

Sunday 10 March was the first time Ms Jenkins was able to give her version of events in the trial which has been delayed a number of times due to the non-attendance of prosecution witnesses.

Ms Jenkins, who was acquitted in an earlier trial under Islamic law, is a former Emirates Airline stewardess.

The court in Dubai where the trial was held

She was first arrested by the authorities in the Gulf country in November 2000 and last month marked her second birthday in detention.

Although cleared by one court - held under sharia or Islamic law - in the nearby emirate of Ras-al-Khaimah, she has been tried for a second time, under civil law, on charges of possessing 50g cocaine found hidden in the roof space of her flat.

She is being tried in connection with what police have called an international drug smuggling ring.

The strict Muslim country imposes harsh penalties for offences involving drugs, and two co-defendants in her earlier trial were handed sentences of life imprisonment.

Heart attack

Last month, an inquest in Neath in south Wales recorded a verdict of misadventure on Ms Jenkins' father who died of a heart attack after taking an overdose of aspirin last November.

The coroner Dr David Osbourne was told steelworker Vivian Jenkins, 53, had been deeply affected by the death of three colleagues in an unprecedented explosion at number five blast furnace at the Corus plant in Port Talbot.

Recording his verdict, Dr Osbourne said Mr Jenkins had also been subject to considerable worry due to his daughter's detention in the UAE.

Katherine Jenkins was unable to return to Wales for her father's funeral.

Humanitarian grounds

Her case was taken up by Neath MP Peter Hain, who wrote to Dubai's leader, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid, urging him to free Ms Jenkins on humanitarian grounds.

Her second trial under civil law began in December - but it has been hit by a series of almost weekly delays.

Last month a police officer involved in her arrest did not appear in court because he was on holiday.

UK justice watchdogs have criticised the repeated delays in the trial.