A British woman will face trial for smuggling powerful painkillers into Egypt, after prosecutors on Saturday referred her case to the criminal court.

Laura Plummer, 33, from Hull, was arrested on October 9 at Hurghada airport in the Red Sea resort city after officials found 290 tramadol pills in her suitcase.

She has insisted the tablets were for her Egyptian partner who she said suffers from chronic back pain. The drug is legal in the UK but it is banned by Egypt, given its wide use as a heroin substitute.

No date has yet been set for her trial.

If she is denied bail she will have to remain in Egypt until her case reaches court, which could take up to two years.

Her family had been told she could face up to 25 years in jail for drug trafficking, with one lawyer even mentioning the death penalty.