A 28-year-old man from Tullamore, County Offaly, could face a jail term of three years for the Islamic offenses of being drunk in public and having sex before marriage, in Dubai.

Conor McRedmond (28) and his partner in crime, British business woman Rebecca Blake (29) were held by the authorities for five days after being arrested.

McRedmond and Blake met at an “all-you-can-drink” event at The Irish Village hotel bar in Dubai. After the event they hailed a cab together. They angered the driver when they began kissing.

He stopped his cab and complained to police in a parked patrol car. When he returned to his car with an officer they found the couple having sex in the car.

A source told the Irish Independent, “They were completely drunk, started kissing and then got carried away. That's when they started having sex.

“When the police officer went over, he found the woman was completely naked and they were having sex on the back seat.”

They were taken to the Jebel Ali police station and held for 4th to 9th of May. They have handed over their passports while the forensic evidence is being gathered.

Blake has said the allegations are untrue. She said, “I have no idea where these sex allegations have come from because none were put to me by the authorities. I was arrested for having a bottle of beer in the back of a cab, not having sex. That is all. I was alone in the vehicle.”

McRedmond also denies the charges.

*** http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/crime/drunk-couple-accused-of-having-sex-in-dubai-taxi-1.1023966

According to GulfNews, “the arresting police officer alleged that the woman was not wearing a shirt when he arrested the couple.

“Meanwhile [Mc Redmond] countered those claims, according to his statement, contending that R.B. is his fiancée and that she was sad when he hugged her only.

"The couple deny involving in any form of sexual intimacy or public indecency."

They added, “Apparently DNA and forensic tests seem to be negative so far”.

The Offaly man worked as a welder in an engineering firm. Blake works for a global recruitment firm, Manpower. She is from Croydon, in South London and was educated at her local Catholic high school.

The pair have now been released on bail but their case will be reviewed on 30th May.