You've just finished a champagne brunch by the beach. You're preeettty tipsy — it's the weekend! — and you decide to take a walk with a cute dude you met earlier in the day. Well one thing leads to another, and the next thing you know you're doing it astride a sand dune. Sounds like the making of a boozy adventure, something to relay with giggles to your friends, right? Not for Michelle Palmer it wasn't. The British national, caught having sex on a Dubai beach with fellow Brit Vince Acors last week, now faces up to six years in prison for violating the United Arab Emirates' strict behavioral laws. While both couples face the same strict sentences, most of the UK headlines focus only on Palmer's transgression (From the Guardian: "Woman Accused Of Sex And Assault On Dubai Beach Faces Jail"; from the BBC: "Woman Arrested For 'Sex On Beach'").
In the papers' defense, Michelle was arrested for assault and indecency, as she allegedly attacked the policeman who caught the couple getting busy (the other part of the story: the policeman reportedly caught them a first time and let them go, only to catch them a second time). The tabloids usually have the juiciest details, and the Sun refers to Acors as "sozzled" and also gives the pertinent info that Michelle was on top when they were caught.
Anyway, Michelle is bearing the brunt of this scandal: she's already been fired from her job as a manager at the ITP Publishing company for violating a decency clause in her contract. Michelle wrote into an online forum recently to ask for discretion. "Please be sympathetic for the sake of those I love, if this were you, your sister/brother, your daughter/son, how would you really be feeling?" Poor girl. Here's the lesson to be learned from this debacle: never have sex with a guy whose co-workers refer to as "Vince Charming."
First Picture Of British Businessman Whose Dubai Beach Tryst Could Put Him And His Lover In Jail For Six Years [This Is London]
"Woman Accused Of Sex And Assault On Dubai Beach Faces Jail" [Guardian]
"Woman Arrested For 'Sex On Beach'" [BBC]
British Girl On Dubai Sex Rap [The Sun]