Dancer Michaella McCollum Connolly is expected to plead guilty today to smuggling £1,5 million cocaine haul

DRUG mule Michaella McCollum Connolly is expected to plead guilty on Tuesday to cocaine smuggling charges.

The 20-year-old is to appear at a court in Peru later when she may enter her guilty plea in return for a lenient sentence.

The Dungannon-born club dancer is expected to follow the path of Glasgow co-accused Melissa Reid who pleaded guilty earlier this month as part of a plea bargaining deal.

They originally claimed they were forced to smuggle £1.5 million worth of cocaine out of Peru back to Spain by a 14-strong criminal gang at gunpoint.

McCollum Connolly even claimed that the gangsters told her they would travel to Northern Ireland and harm her family if she did not co-operate.

They were detained at the Jorge Chavez international in Lima airport at the start of August days after Connolly’s family launched an urgent appeal to trace her.

The pair are currently locked up in Virgin de Fatima women’s prison in the Peruvian capital.

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Connolly said: “I understand that the [judicial] process will be simpler if we both plead guilty.

“We are hoping that we will not have to wait too long before we are sentenced and pleading guilty will speed things up,” she added.

As part of their guilty pleas, the pair may be allowed to serve out their sentences in prisons in the UK.