Brit beautician's mum breaks silence as daughter faces 60 years in US jail for 'smuggling cocaine'

Kim Hall, 28, collected two suitcases which she claims to have believed contained cash, but in fact they were found to have been packed with cocaine worth millions

The mum of a British beautician who is awaiting trial after she allegedly attempted to smuggle £3.5million worth of cocaine into the US believes her daughter is innocent and will be released from prison.

Kim Hall, 28, from Middlesbrough, is alleged to have collected two suitcases filled with 43kg of cocaine while in Mexico and took them to Chicago's O'Hare airport. But she was swiftly arrested by Homeland Security who believe she intentionally tried to smuggle the drugs into the US.

From prison, Hall claimed she believed she had been carrying cash from real estate deals and did not know the true content of what was inside the cases. Hall is now being held inside Cook County Jail in Illinois. It is one of the largest jails in the US and houses thousands of inmates and employs nearly 3,000 law enforcement officers.

The prison is well known for having once held 1920s gangster Al Capone and serial killer John Wayne Gacy, better known as the Killer Clown.

Mum Tracy, 58, told MailOnline: "The truth will come out, we are certain that Kim will be able to tell the real story in time." She and Hall's sister Stephanie and now waiting for any other news and said the incident has been "horrendous" for the family.

Hall's friends have shared their fears about her safety in the prison where 18 people died in 2023, according to US outlet Injustice Watch. The total is the highest reported number of deaths at the facility since 2013.

A family friend told MailOnline: "Everyone is beside themselves with worry over Kim's safety in that prison. The thought of that sweet, shy, timid girl locked up in a place like that is unbearable. No one could believe it when word got out that Kim had been arrested on drugs charges, you couldn't have picked a person less likely to be involved in something like that.

"She's a lovely hard working girl with her own business who has never been in trouble with the law in her life. After she left school she went to work in bars in Salou for a while and although she enjoyed it she really missed her family.

"She worships her mum and dad and is very close to them. She likes to be close to home and I can't imagine what she must be going through now, stuck so far away at the other side of the world."

According to the US Customs and Border Protection, thousands of kilos of cocaine are smuggled into the country every year. Drug enforcement officers made busts preventing 442,706kg and 318,875kg of cocaine in 2021 and 2022.

In 2023 and 2024, 367,409kg and 285,763kg were prevented from entering the US, respectively.