A 77-year-old British woman was kept overnight in a mixed-gender cell in Spain after losing her passport on the flight over, her family say.

Pam Tweedale realised the document was missing when she touched down in Madrid for a family holiday with 13 relatives who all flew together from London Gatwick on August 16.

She suspects it fell from her handbag after she put it beneath the seat in front of her on the Iberia Airlines flight.

The retired shop assistant immediately informed Iberia’s assistance counter at Madrid-Barajas airport but the passport couldn’t be found.

After being directed to airport authoirites, she and her daughter Sharon say they were detained and held in custody in grim conditions for 22 hours before being deported to the UK.

Sharon told MailOnline: ‘We were put in a

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