A British woman who is being held alongside her husband in an Iranian prison has admitted that they thought there was a risk in being detained, but that they ‘naively and ignorantly thought that we’d be OK’.

It is more than a year since Lindsay and Craig Foreman were taken into custody in January during a world motorcycle tour and were later charged with espionage.

The couple from East Sussex deny the allegations and are in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.

Ms Foreman spoke with ITV News by phone from the prison, telling the broadcaster: ‘We kind of felt… There’s a risk of detainment, but how bad can that be? How, you know, if we’re innocent people, why would they detain us? So I naively and ignorantly thought that we’d be OK.’

The Brit also explained that she and her husband had the correct documentation to be in Iran despite Foreign Office warnings against travelling to the country.

‘When you’re planning a route around the world, it’s quite complicated, and Iran is a big section of that, you know, gateway from Europe to Asia… I thought getting a visa was a sign of a welcome,’ she said. 

‘Armenia was having a storm, Turkey was having a snowstorm. So had I known that, I probably would have gone a safer political route, whilst more dangerous geographically.

‘We had an Iranian travel agent plotting our routes. We had a tour guide. We were escorted. I think the people who told us, you know, ‘this is possible, you can do it’.

Pictured British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman, of East Sussex, who have been detained in Iran for over a year

Mrs Foreman admitted in a phone interview that her and her husband knew there was a risk in travelling to the Islamic State, but ‘thought that we’d be ok’ 

Ms Foreman also said she can see her husband, but described the meetings as ‘psychological torture’.

‘For example, we were promised three meetings a month, which can range between, I think the (shortest) has been about 45 minutes… and the longest I think we’ve had is about, you know, just over two hours,’ she said.

‘On more than one occasion, they cancel it at the last minute. And that is the most soul-destroying thing.’

Ms Foreman also revealed she was told the couple were going to be released, only to be kept behind bars.

‘(The most) pitiful, depressing moment I think I’ve ever experienced,’ she said.

‘That actual belief that this is the end, only for it all to start, literally all start all over again.’

Last month, Ms Foreman’s son Joe Bennett was joined by former detainee Anoosheh Ashoori and Richard Ratcliffe, who fought a public campaign that involved two hunger strikes to have his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed from Iran, at the steps of 10 Downing Street to deliver a petition calling on the Government to do more to free them.

The petition had 70,000 signatures, ‘which is a clear sign there is a strong belief that this is nothing but an arbitrary detention’, Mr Bennett said.

Ms Foreman says she is allowed to see her husband occasionally, but said it is ‘psychological torture’

‘We want public acknowledgement that it is completely barbaric they are being held on these charges of espionage, that they are not spies for the British state, and they are going to do everything they can to get them home.’ 

A Foreign Office spokesperson told ITV News: ‘We remain deeply concerned that Craig and Lindsay Foreman have been charged with espionage in Iran. We continue to raise this case directly with the Iranian authorities.

‘We continue to provide Craig and Lindsay with consular assistance and remain in close contact with their family members.’