Get you up to speed: British woman jailed in Dubai over £19,000 unpaid rent shared cell with murderers | News World
Kerry Nwachukwu, a 44-year-old British businesswoman, was detained in Dubai over nearly £20,000 in unpaid rent, triggering travel bans until the debt is settled. She was arrested on April 22 while at a shopping mall and subsequently held in Al Awir Central Jail for two weeks.
Kerry Nwachukwu faces ongoing legal proceedings and is unable to renew her UAE business licence due to her debt situation. Her financial crisis intensified after she incurred £19,000 in rent arrears, following substantial unpaid client contracts, and she is currently at risk of re-arrest if her debts remain unpaid.
Kerry Nwachukwu’s situation has elicited a response from her friends and family, who have initiated a GoFundMe page to assist with her debts and living expenses, although using the platform could bring legal repercussions in Dubai. Meanwhile, her lawyer suggested that raising £4,000 could potentially lead to the cancellation of her current arrest warrant, but the outcome remains uncertain.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain whether raising £4,000 will guarantee the cancellation of Kerry Nwachukwu’s arrest warrant.
British woman jailed in Dubai for £19,000 unpaid rent shares cell with murderers
Kerry Nwachukwu cannot leave the United Arab Emirates until her £19,000 debt has been paid off (Picture: Kennedy)
A crowdfunder has been started for a British businesswoman who ended up in a Dubai jail over nearly £20,000 of unpaid rent.
Kerry Nwachukwu, 44, from London, is unable to leave the UAE after travel bans were imposed on her until she pays her debts to two landlords.
She moved to the city in August 2022 with her son John, 25, to set up a marketing agency after giving up her job as marketing director at Sotheby’s.
But by late 2024 and into 2025, she entered a legal and financial crisis over two separate Rental Dispute Centre cases.
Kerry got £19,000 into rent arrears with two landlords after more than £10,000 in client contracts went unpaid.
Because of the legal proceedings against her, she has been unable to renew her UAE business licence since January, while her financial situation has also been worsened by the war in the Middle East.
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On April 22 this year, unaware an arrest warrant had already been issued against her, she was detained in a shopping mall on her way back from speaking to a rental clerk.
She was taken to Bur Dubai police station where she was held for two weeks before being sent to Al Awir Central Jail.
She said: ‘It’s a criminal offence when I don’t pay rent, but when businesses don’t pay people, there is no legal consequence at all.’
Describing conditions in the prison, Kerry said she didn’t initially have a mattress, almost got into fights and met ‘so many dangerous characters.’
Kerry moved to Dubai in 2022 to set up a marketing agency – but with creditors not paying what they owe, she got into rent arrears (Picture: Kennedy)
What little cash she had, she spent £3 on a pair of slippers to avoid walking on urine in the toilets because other inmates peed on the floor.
She said: ‘I was put inside with people who’ve murdered people. I was in one cell with people who were selling drugs.
‘How is that even possible? Just for not paying your rent, you are thrown into a horrible, horrible jail.
‘I became a person that I don’t want to be – it’s terrifying I could not sleep every night, I was feeling somebody’s going to jump at me.’
She paid £3,000 to be released in mid-May under a 15-month repayment plan after repeated requests from her son.
However, the same judge reversed that decision three weeks later and gave her 15 days to repay instead.
That period is now up and Kerry, who warns about the dark side of the ‘glitz and glamour’ of living in Dubai, fears she could be arrested at any moment.
Her lawyer has told her that if she can raise £4,000 it may convince the judge to cancel the current arrest warrant, but even this is not guaranteed.
Kerry’s son John requested her release nine times before she was freed – but she still faces potential arrest(Picture: Kennedy)
Ultimately she wants to return home to the UK.
She said: ‘If I had any means to literally pay the courts today, I’ll be on a plane straight out of here.
‘I would not even look back. All my stuff is in storage, I’ll get a courier to bring it to the UK. I’ll literally just run out with my two suitcases and I won’t even look back.’
Her friends and family in the UK have set up a GoFundMe page to help cover day-to-day living costs and rent while repaying the two separate rental installment plans – which are each tied to their own travel ban.
However, Kerry adds that GoFundMe is not an authorised platform in Dubai – and using it could also lead to legal consequences.
‘I may end up with another judgment against me, another prison sentence, just for my family helping me out with GoFundMe,’ Kerry says.
Before all of this, she started writing a book about building her business – but she now wants to base it on her detention story.
She concluded: ‘People need to know the story of a businesswoman by herself, trying to build somewhere where actually the law can be very dangerous and people don’t forgive you.’
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