A British student jailed in Malaysia after being accused of causing an earthquake by posing naked on a sacred mountain is said to be is "scared and upset".

Eleanor Hawkins is one of five tourists who are being investigated for indecent behaviour after the photographs were taken from the peak of Mount Kinabalu.

A few days later, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck nearby and killed 18 climbers - prompting a senior Malaysian politician to say that the tourists' behaviour was to blame.

Philip Nolan of the Irish Daily Mail spoke to George on The Right Hook today, and said the girl is facing three months in jail:

The 23-year-old graduate was detained on Tuesday at an airport in Borneo as she attempted to fly to Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Her father, Timothy Hawkins, has conceded his daughter is "obviously" among the 10 people who appear in the images - but said the situation should not be "blown out of all proportion".

"She knows what she did was stupid and disrespectful and she is very sorry for the offence she has caused the Malaysian people. She has never been in any sort of trouble before," Mr Hawkins said in a statement.

Miss Hawkins and the three other tourists appeared in court on Thursday.

Sabah state police chief Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said they could face up to three months in jail and a fine, adding that the other tourists were being sought.

"According to the picture, of course you can see five or ten people who are naked but for now we have detained four of them, we will continue the investigation and look for who else is involved and if they are still in Sabah, we will catch them," the police chief said.

Mount Kinabalu is sacred to local tribal groups, who believe the peak is the final resting place for the spirits of the departed.

Politicians have said the stunt showed "disrespect to the sacred mountain", and a special ritual to "appease the mountain spirit" has been arranged following the deadly earthquake.

"Locals anger against the strippers on Mt Kinabalu was boiling hot even before the earthquake and multiplied a 1000 times when it happened," Masidi Manjun, the provincial tourism minister tweeted.

Consular support

The British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur has confirmed they are providing her with consular support.

A British official said that diplomats have visited her and confirmed that "she is in good condition".

Miss Hawkins' lawyer Ronny Cham said he was sent to represent her by the British High Commission.

He confirmed he had last seen her before she was remanded at Karamunsing Police Station, the District Police Headquarters in Kota Kinabalu.

Mr Cham said she has not yet been formally charged with anything and pointed out that while she may have offended locals, "it's a different question altogether if an offence had been committed".

"The law should be used to punish moral issues - only if it's enshrined in the law. If it's enshrined in cultural issue, then it's outside the law" Mr Cham said.

Miss Hawkins has a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from Southampton University.

She was travelling alone on a gap year around southeast Asia when the photographs were taken on 30 May.

Speaking to Sky News, the owner of the backpackers' hostel where Miss Hawkins stayed the night before the stunt said that she appeared to be "quiet and shy".

Jack Chin said that a group of five arrived on the same day as Miss Hawkins.

They including a German who looked older, and a Canadian brother and sister, who he claimed were "clearly trouble makers".

He said that he suspected something had happened on the mountain because when they returned to the hostel they wanted to check out straight away.

"Normally they would want hot showers, but 11 of them wanted to leave immediately," he said.

Asked about the local anger, Mr Chin said that initially locals thought the photos showed "stupid behaviour by European people … a European culture".

Only after the earthquake, when a local politician linked the behaviour to the earthquake, he claimed, did anger among locals increase.

"If the earthquake hadn’t happened, this thing would have past already," he said.