By Mirror.co.uk

Nicole Reyes was freed from a 12-year prison sentence in the Dominican Republic after her family raised £62,000 in bail money

A British mum jailed for killing her husband in the Dominican Republic is back home today, after her family bought her way out of prison.

Nicole Reyes, 38, was handed a 12-year prison sentence in February for killing her husband Jorge, 37, in a tragic road accident.

But her family managed to raise £62,000 in bail money by borrowing cash and selling furniture, and the authorities on the Caribbean island freed her without confiscating her passport.

Nicole’s lawyers kept her in a safe house for three days while they arranged for her to fly home, and the mum-of-two is now back with her delighted family and being checked over by doctors after her two-year ordeal in a cramped cell with 15 other women.

Nicole, of Rumney, Cardiff, was accused of deliberately running over her husband in her SUV as he rode beside her on a motorbike after a night out.

But she claimed she accidentally hit his motorcycle as he swerved out of the way of an oncoming car in July 2012.

Police arrived on the scene and told Nicole they would take her to hospital – but took her to a prison instead.

She was facing 30 years in jail for murder but at her two-and-a-half hour trial in February the charge was reduced to voluntary homicide and she was given 12 years.

But her family was told Nicole, who has a serious kidney illness, could still be freed on bail for a sum of £62,000. Her mother Jeanette Clements and stepfather Mike in Cardiff raised the money and Nicole was let out of prison last week.

Technically she is still on bail but after flying home on Saturday, Nicole and her family believe her ordeal is over.

Jeannette, 62, who has campaigned tirelessly for her daughter’s release said it was the end of a “hellish nightmare.”

She said: “We scraped bail money together from wherever we could – we borrowed from family and sold our furniture.

“Nothing mattered as much as getting Nicole home.

“When we had the £62,000 we handed it over and waited. It was all in the hands of our lawyer and that was so hard.

“We waited for news and then finally heard that Nicole was free.

“She was taken to a safe house in the Dominican Republic while we organised her a flight out of there.

“She didn’t have to hand over her passport or sign a form to say where she’d be.

“All the prison authorities wanted from us was the money.”

Nicole was reunited with her children Leah, 19, and Luke, 18, who visited her while she was held in a 15ft square cell on the holiday island.

The former holiday rep has become a grandmother since her imprisonment but had only ever seen pictures of her baby grandson.

Her mother said: “We got her through the door after midnight on Saturday and drank champagne together and cried tears of relief.

“I didn’t want her out of my sight. I could hardly take it in.

“Seeing Nicole with her baby grandson for the first time was the most beautiful blessing.

“After a long and hard battle to get her home my mind is struggling to keep up.

“She’s stood in front of me but I can hardly believe my eyes.”

The family said their focus was now getting Nicole well again.

Her mother said: “Two weeks ago she was curled up in a ball, crying to me that she thought she was going to die.

“Now she is home we can get her the medical attention she has been so desperate for.

“I can’t tell you what it means to me that she is back where she belongs.

“We are all walking around dazed, it feels like a miracle after the journey we’ve had.”

Nicole first went to the island on holiday – and later took a holiday rep job with Thomas Cook where she met Jorge, a coconut water salesman.

The Foreign Office, who provided consular assistance to Nicole’s family, yesterday confirmed it was aware she was back in the UK.

PHOTOS: Wales News Service Ltd.

Ordeal: Nicole Reyes with her husband Jorge in happier times

Reunion: Nicole is now back with her family

Relief: Nicole Reyes’ mother Jeannette Clements

For more on this story go tohttp://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-mum-jailed-caribbean-killing-3661967

See also related iNews Cayman stories with links to others published May 5 2014 “Nicole Reyes’ conviction for Caribbean killing upheld” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/nicole-reyes-conviction-for-caribbean-killing-upheld/