Two law graduates arrested over allegations they fraudulently claimed to have been robbed ‘have had passports confiscated’

A judge in Brazil has granted bail to two British law graduates who were arrested over allegations that they fraudulently claimed they had been robbed, their lawyer said today.

Shanti Andrews and Rebecca Turner, both 23, must stay in the South American country as part of their bail conditions and their passports have been confiscated, reports said.

The pair, who both studied at the University of Sussex, were originally denied bail because they were foreigners, their lawyer, Renato Tonini, said.

Following an appeal, Andrews and Turner were told yesterday that they would be released from custody.

Speaking from Rio de Janeiro today, Tonini said: “Yes, they have been granted bail. They will be released today, but I don’t know what time.”

The women are reported to have been transferred from the squalid Polinter jail, south of Rio de Janeiro, to another prison in which they have their own cell.

They had been forced to sleep in overcrowded conditions, with just a blanket on the floor, at Polinter.

The pair told police in the Brazilian city that belongings worth £1,000 had been stolen during a bus journey.

They were taken into custody at dawn on Monday after officers from a specialist tourist support unit apparently became suspicious that they had waited several days before reporting the alleged theft to police.

The Rio de Janeiro state civil police website said the Britons had tried to register a robbery of baggage and documents and claimed they had been attacked.

A subsequent search of their lodgings, in Copacabana, allegedly uncovered some of the belongings they had originally told officers had been stolen.

Tonini said he was “confident” Andrews and Turner would be dealt with fairly by the Brazilian justice system following concerns voiced by Simone Headley, Andrews’s mother, last week.

“We hope the Brazilian justice system will see it as a misunderstanding and the girls will be able to come home safely,” she said.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it had not yet been informed that the women had been granted bail.