British woman walks free of Dubai jail

A British woman threatened with up to four years in a Dubai jail for having traces of painkiller in her system has been acquitted.

Tracy Wilkinson, who spent two months in custody, now hopes she will be free to leave the country as early as today.

The 44-year-old sports osteopath was arrested in March as she boarded a flight home because of an irregularity in her passport.

Traces of the painkiller codeine and the sedative temazepam were found in a urine sample. Codeine is forbidden in the UAE.

The presence of illegal drugs in the body amounts to possession under the country's strict drug laws.