Media scrum waits for model's arrival

Australian model Michelle Leslie on her way out of an Indonesian courtroom and back to Australia. Picture / Reuters

SYDNEY - A large media contingent is awaiting the return to Australia of model Michelle Leslie, released from a Bali jail yesterday after being convicted of drug use.

Leslie arrived in Singapore last night after leaving Denpasar, and was expected to return to Australia today.

News crews have been waiting at Sydney International Airport, and reporters are also at the airport in Adelaide, where Leslie's family lives.

Leslie was thought to have been on a Singapore Airlines flight which landed in Sydney at 10.45am (1245pm NZT), but she has not been sighted.

There are also suggestions she may not arrive back until Tuesday.

Neither her lawyer nor family spokesman has been available for comment today.

In Singapore overnight, Leslie spoke for the first time since her release from prison.

"I'm so exhausted, I'm really excited to be going home and I'm just really relieved to be out of Indonesia," she said.

"And I'm really thankful to all the people that have supported me and sent me emails and letters and phone calls during my time in Bali."

Leslie was caught in bali on august 20 after being found with two ecstasy tablets in her handbag outside a kuta dance party.

During her trial she had argued that she had innocently received the ecstasy from a friend named Mia, believing it was medicine for anxiety attacks.

She was convicted on Friday and sentenced to three months jail, but was released yesterday because she had already served that time while awaiting trial.

The model has vowed that, once back in Australia, she will speak publicly about her arrest, after allegations police covered up the fact she was with the sons of powerful Indonesian families on the night of her arrest.

- AAP