Georgia Wawman, 26, claims her life has been ‘ruined' after her arrest in Buenos Aires
The British woman known as the ‘Barbie Bandit' who was accused of involvement with a notorious Argentinian armed gang has protested her innocence and said: ‘I wouldn't say boo to a goose'.
Georgia Wawman, 26, claims her life has been ‘ruined' after her arrest in Buenos Aires last week, where she was detained for eleven hours and referred to by police as a ‘filthy English whore' in Spanish.
She said one of the officers 'used the word for prostitute and words which mean "You are the daughter of a thousand whores".'
Miss Wawman was accused of being part of a gang that carried out 16 robberies in the Argentinian capital, who tied up their wealthy victims before ransacking their mansions.
Her family insist she is innocent and say she had been intimidated by Argentinian police.
She said her first instinct was to protect her two-year-old son Milo.
Miss Wawman recalled: ‘I rolled him up in the duvet and covered him with my body expecting to be shot dead.'
She said police shouted at her ‘Who are you, where is he' while pointing their guns at her as she lay defenceless.
‘At the house one of them [police officers] asked sarcastically: ‘'Who you think the Falklands belong to now?'' I told them they were British and was shocked minutes later when they put me in handcuffs.
‘At the station I was ordered not to speak, refused a phone call and given no food and water for hours.'
She continued: ‘I'm entirely innocent yet the world now knows me as the Barbie Bandit.
‘I've been set up and humiliated by the police and my life is ruined. Anyone who knows me will tell you I wouldn't say boo to a goose.'
Police sources in Buenos Aires deny the claims of mistreatment.
Miss Wawman was accused of being part of a gang that carried out 16 robberies in the Argentinian capital, who tied up their wealthy victims before ransacking their mansions
Police sources in Buenos Aires deny the claims of mistreatment.
Argentinian police released this photo of the items seized during the raids in the capital's neighbourhoods of Manzanares and Del Viso. It includes police uniforms, laptops, guns and ammunition, jewellery and watches
Miss Wawman, whose father Richard is a documentary maker, went to St John's School in Marlborough, Wiltshire.
After school Miss Wawman later moved from Marlborough to a luxurious rural property in Argentina with her Argentine stepmother.
Several months later she relocated to Buenos Aires with her then boyfriend Jose Mino, 32, who is the alleged leader of the gang and was also arrested in the raids.
On Facebook she describes herself as a ‘full time mummy' after having a child with her ex-boyfriend.
On Tuesday, a picture emerged of Miss Wawman giving the middle finger to camera, as a school friend revealed she has always been a troublemaker.
They said she would steal sweets and was banned from the school prom - but always got out of trouble by 'batting her eyelashes'.
'She would have fitted in well at St Trinian's,' Wawman's friend added.
Miss Wawman, whose father Richard is a documentary maker, went to St John's School in Marlborough, Wiltshire
After school Miss Wawman later moved from Marlborough to a luxurious rural property in Argentina with her Argentine stepmother
A file picture of Argentinian police in Buenos Aires last year. The ‘Barbie Bandit' was accused of involvement with a notorious Argentinian armed gang
One former school friend said yesterday: 'Georgia was probably the naughtiest girl at school.
'She always hung around with the bad girls and would get in trouble for smoking and talking back to teachers. She had lots of detentions but always got out of trouble by batting her lashes.
'She was an innocent public school girl when I first met her but she used to get in trouble at secondary school. She always used to nick sweets from the local shop.
'She would've been in trouble with the police before for drinking under age - we all were.
'She was banned from the prom for being naughty but her mum went to the school and demanded that they let her go.'
Other friends leapt to her defence, saying the 'sweet and innocent' mother of one never had any problems with the police.
Miss Wawman's friend Amy Jackson said she had been a 'very normal' girl.
She added: 'She wasn't a goodie two-shoes but she wasn't as bad as some [schoolchildren] could be. She didn't get in a lot of trouble at all in school.'
Another close friend, who became best friends with Miss Wawman after meeting her at 14, said: 'Georgia has never been a bad person, never got into trouble with the police. I cannot believe someone so sweet and innocent could be accused of something so horrendous.'
Following publication of this article it was established that Ms Wawman was not charged. She was released by police and not bailed as previously reported.