'Billy lost £20k to a fraudster... he was in all sorts of financial difficulties'

Sister of 'drug mule' pensioner says he was tricked out of his life savings

- BY CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN US Editor

THE British pensioner accused of smuggling drugs into Chile was desperate for money after being scammed out of his life savings, his sister has claimed.

Bowls-loving William “Billy Boy” Eastment, 79, was intercepted at Santiago Airport with methamphetamine worth £200,000 on May 18.

His younger sister, Jennifer, was not aware her brother had been arrested when the Mirror approached her at her home in Llantarnam, near Cwmbran, in South Wales.

When she heard Eastment had told police in Chile he had been offered $5million for taking the suitcase, she said: “That's him to a T. He is just so gullible.

“If someone gave him a story about needing something delivered and he would get paid for it, he wouldn't think about drugs or anything like that.