British tourist barred from entering US for 10 years over cocaine text

Tourist forced to abandon £3,500 holiday

A British tourist has been barred from entering the US for 10 years after a reference to taking cocaine was found on her mobile phone.

Isabella Brazier-Jones travelled to Los Angeles with her friend in March to embark on a two-month trip, but the pair were stopped by Customs officials who suspected they were planning to overstay their visas.

Brazier-Jones, 28, and her companion Olivia Cura, 26, were questioned about their plans and finances. Cura was released after an hour or so, while Brazier-Jones’s bag and phone were seized, reports The Sun.

Brazier-Jones said she was subjected to a full body search and held in a cell with four other women, an experience she described as “torture”.

Meanwhile, officials searched her phone and found a text that suggested she had taken cocaine.

The former private chef and aspiring actress admitted to having taken the class A drug in 2017, after which she was deported to the UK and told she was banned from visiting the US for a decade.

While Cura was told she could stay in the States, she opted to fly home with her friend instead.

The pair, both from west London, had quit their jobs to embark upon the holiday of a lifetime, which had cost them £3,500 in total for flights, accommodation and car hire.

Brazier-Jones had also redecorated her flat and rented it out in preparation.

She accused American officials of taking against her as a “posh, white, blonde girl” and said she’d been “terrified”.

The story comes after several Conservative leadership candidates admitted to taking drugs.

Michael Gove and Boris Johnson have both admitted to taking cocaine in the past, Dominic Raab and Jeremy Hunt said they’d tried cannabis and Rory Stewart claimed he’d smoked opium at an Iranian wedding.