'Dubai police called me a fat English pig, put me in handcuffs and punched me repeatedly '
AN innocent Brit says she was beaten up by Dubai police officers who called her a “fat English pig”.
Rebecca Groom claims she still has scars and was thrown into a dirty prison for two months after a car ran into the back of her parked vehicle.
The 42-year-old says she was repeatedly punched by a male officer in a locked police car.
Rebecca spoke exclusively to the Daily Star Sunday after our revelations into the treatment of Rebecca Blake, who was jailed after being falsely accused of a sex romp.
Rebecca, now living in Swindon, Wilts, said: “Dubai was the country I grew up in, I loved it. I was there for 30 years.
“But it’s changed so much. I’m still shocked. It’s broken my heart and shattered my life.”
FUN IN THE SUN: Rebecca's younger days in Dubai
“Dubai was the country I grew up in, I loved it. I was there for 30 years. But it’s changed so much. I’m still shocked. It’s broken my heart and shattered my life”Rebecca Groom
Her ordeal started when she went to collect something from her car and another driver crashed into it.
She phoned police for help, only to be arrested herself.
She said: “The officer asked if I’d been drinking and I said I’d had a glass of wine in my home earlier but that I hadn’t been in my car.
“He put me in his car but I wasn’t worried because I hadn’t done anything.
“The next thing I knew the doors were locked. I was placed in handcuffs that were so tight they cut off my circulation and while I was bound the policeman completely went to town on me. I still have scars.
“He punched me in the head over and over, calling me a fat English pig.
“All I could do was cry. I was black and blue.”
Rebecca was taken to an underground prison where she spent two months, with no clue as to why.
“The jail was unlike anything I had ever seen,” she said.
“I had no idea places like that even existed.
“It still makes me sick to think of the conditions. There were rats and one girl was bitten.
“The toilet was a hole in the floor. It was appalling. I was given a single mattress and it had to be shared between three of us on the floor.” Rebecca said the cell block was meant to house 20 people but at one point it held 70 women.
IDYLLIC: More pictures show Rebecca's lifestyle in the capital of the United Arab EmiratesShe added: “One girl was only there because she had farted in a supermarket by accident.
“The way they treat women is barbaric. We were beaten daily.
“Eventually I was told I was in there on a drink driving charge and that I could go if I paid 30,000 dirhams, which is about £6,000.
“I refused and they put me in front of a judge where, because I can speak Arabic, I explained my situation and said I wasn’t paying so he let me out.
“Other girls are completely helpless. I spent two months in total hell.”
Rebecca was released on July 9, the first day of Ramadan, and flew to Britain.
She said: “I am looking forward to carrying on with my life.
“I am starting to fall back in love with the UK.
“We don’t realise how good we have it here.
“It has made me realise that freedom is priceless.”
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