Sky News UK report
Billy Hood, 25, from Kensington, London, was working as a football coach in the UAE when police discovered four small bottles of the CBD oil derived from cannabis, and a vape pen, in his car and arrested him on 31 January.
Tuesday 30 November 2021 23:31, UK
A British football coach who was jailed for 25 years in Dubai for possessing CBD vape oil has had his sentenced reduced to 10 years on appeal.
It comes after the United Arab Emirates recently said it would bring in new laws meaning foreigners found to be in possession of products containing THC, the main intoxicating chemical in cannabis, can be deported rather than jailed as long as it is their first offence.
Billy Hood, 25, from Kensington, London, was working as a football coach in the UAE when police discovered four small bottles of the CBD oil derived from cannabis, and a vape pen, in his car and arrested him on 31 January.
He was convicted of drug trafficking with intent to supply by a court and has been held ever since.
CBD oil, which is derived from cannabis, is legal in the UK but because it sometimes contains trace elements of THC it is not tolerated under the UAE’s strict drug laws.
Mr Hood says the bottles and vape pen were left in his car by a friend he had driven to the airport two weeks prior to his arrest, and that he was forced to sign a confession written in Arabic after being held in appalling conditions for four days.
He says he was refused a translator and told he would not be released from his cell, where he was held with 30 other men and given only bread and water, unless he signed the document.
