Shanti Andrews and Rebecca Turner were freed on bail on Saturday and are staying in a hotel ahead of their trial in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday. The two University of Sussex graduates will have the charge of attempted insurance fraud read to them in English during the hearing; a unpleasant fianle to their nine-month round the world trip.

The lawyer for the pair is understood to be confident that even if Shanti Andrews and Rebecca Turner were convicted, they would not be jailed. He believed that a fine would solve the problem.

Whatever the outcome, on their return to the UK they will face a particularly tough job market, unlikely to be made any easier by the publicity they have received over this affair.