Bali drug trial: British woman gets death sentence

A 56-year-old British woman has been sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug trafficking.

Lindsay Sandiford was arrested in May after Bali police, carrying out a routine customs check, found 4.8kg (10.6lb) of cocaine in the lining of her suitcase.

Sandiford, from Gloucestershire, has insisted she was set up and coerced into bringing the drugs to the island.

She was held after a flight from Bangkok, Thailand.

Prosecutors had recommended a 15-year sentence of imprisonment,

But the judges said there were no mitigating circumstances and the defendant did not appear to care about the consequences of her actions.

They said Sandiford has damaged the image of Bali as a tourism destination and weakened the government's anti-drugs programme.

Penalty opposed

Sandiford, who is originally from Redcar in Teesside, was accused of being at the centre of a ring involving three other Britons.

Last year, Paul Beales was sentenced to four years for possession of drugs and Rachel Dougall was jailed for one year for failing to report a crime.

The drug possession trial of Julian Ponder, from Brighton - who is believed to be Dougall's partner - is still taking place. He is alleged to have collected cocaine from Sandiford.

Sandiford's case had been taken up by the British human rights charity Reprieve, who said she had been "targeted by drug traffickers who exploited her vulnerability and made threats against her children".

At an earlier hearing, Sandiford's defence lawyer told Denpasar District Court that a history of mental health problems made her a vulnerable target for criminal gangs.

In a witness statement, written by Mrs Sandiford, she apologised to "the Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesian people" for her involvement.

She added: "I would never have become involved in something like this but the lives of my children were in danger and I felt I had to protect them".

In another statement read out in court, her son Eliot said he believed his mother was forced into trafficking the drugs after a disagreement over rent money she paid on his behalf.

Indonesia has some of the toughest anti-drug laws in the world, but BBC correspondents say executions are rarely carried out.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "We can confirm that a British national is facing the death penalty in Indonesia. We remain in close contact with that national and continue to provide consular assistance.

"The UK remains strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances."

Source: BBC News (22/01/2013): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21137649