More trouble for Michaella McCollum as the drug mule is reported to have lied about the sectarian threats she claimed forced her to leave Northern Ireland.
The Co. Tyrone native revealed in her now infamous  RTE interview that she fled Northern Ireland for Ibiza after “sectarian” threats forced her out.
The story is in contradiction with Michaella’s mother who told a documentary her daugther had the Ibiza trip planned months before travelling there in 2013.
According to The Herald, the 23-year-old’s mother said her daughter had been planning the trip for quite some time despite protests from her family.
Caught out: Michaella has been accused of lying
Michaella’s television interview gave the impression she decided to flee to the Spanish island overnight.
“I was living in an area that caused me a little bit of problems. I was told to leave the area as soon as possible or something would happen,” Michaella said in the interview.
“I didn’t have the money to pay a deposit for a new house, to rent a new house. I was a little bit too proud to go back to my family’s home. I literally had that moment that I would go to Ibiza.
“I’d go on vacation and leave my problems here … it was an overnight decision. My family were highly against it.”
However, no mention of this was made in the documentary that followed Michaella’s mother visiting her in Peru.
TV: Michaella claimed she fled Northern Ireland due to a sectarian threat
“It was probably early last year (2013) she talked about going to Ibiza, to work during the holidays,” her mother said at the time.
“But I wasn’t really happy about it so I was hoping that she wouldn’t, that it never came to that.
“So then she did decide to go, I wasn’t happy with her going either. None of us wanted her to go.”
Michaella’s claims of sectarian threats has also been called into question by local politicians in her hometown of Dungannon.
Representatives have told the paper that Michaella had friends from both Republican and Unionist communities.
“The family have never been involved in any violence in Dungannon. To my knowledge she was not the type of person to be involved, unless something brewed-up,” Dungannon councillor Walter Cuddy told The Herald.
