Death row gran Lindsay Sandiford to return to the UK after 12 years in Indonesian jail

A British grandmother who has spent 12 years on death row in Indonesia for trafficking drugs is being sent back to the UK today.

Lindsay Sandiford is being repatriated as part of an agreement between the two countries.

She was sentenced to death in 2013 after being convicted of trafficking drugs intoBali.

Officers found cocaine worth $2.14 million hidden in a false bottom of her suitcase after arriving from Thailand.

She said she only agreed to carry the drugs after a drug syndicate threatened to kill her son.

In 2015, she wrote in the Mail on Sunday: ‘My execution is imminent, and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell.

‘I have started to write goodbye letters to members of my family.’

Although the government has listed her as 68-years-old, public information has stated she is 69.

Lindsay is being released alongside fellow British citizen Shahab Shahabadi, with discussions underway today between the two countries about their repatriation to the UK.

The former legal secretary, originally from Redcar, Teeside, was locked up in the country’s Kerobokan prison.

She reportedly spent her days knitting clothes and toys for her grandchildren, charities, and church groups.

Criminologist Jennifer Fleetwood, of City St George’s, University of London, submitted an expert statement to the Indonesian court before the sentencing, working with anti-death penalty charity Reprieve. 

She toldMetro:‘I worked alongside Reprieve and provided an expert statement to the Indonesian court in 2012.

‘I was deeply shocked when she was sentenced to death.

‘It was always my assessment that her account of being coerced was credible and so the death penalty was disproportionate. 

‘I am so pleased to here that Lindsay Sandiford will be repatriated.

‘She has served a very long sentence indeed. I wish her all the best as she prepares to return home to her family. ‘

Christopher Stacey, chief executive of Prisoners Abroad, welcomed the news and spoke of his hope that other British prisoners are able to complete their sentences in the UK.

‘It is wonderful news if an agreement has been reached that means Lindsay and Shahab will be returning to the UK,’ he said.

‘Lindsay has spent over a decade in prison in incredibly difficult conditions – they can be significantly overcrowded, there is little access to basic levels of food and medical treatment seems virtually non-existent unless you can pay for it. People that Prisoners Abroad have supported in prison in Indonesia have not survived their sentence.  

‘Only last year,Andrea Waldeckdied in prison in Indonesia, aged just 53, after serving over 10 years and being only months before she was due to be released. We know that Andrea’s sisters Angie and Cath wanted the UK government to make dedicated efforts to repatriate British people imprisoned overseas.’

Mr Stacey wants to see a reverse in a trend showing a decline in the number of overseas British prisoners being transferred back to the UK.

‘We hope that this news will help lead to a formal prisoner transfer agreement with Indonesia that will enable British nationals to complete their sentence in the UK,’ he said.

‘It would help protect minimum standards of health and welfare, as well as bringing people closer to their families and making the release and resettlement process more successful.

‘More broadly, we know how important transfers can be to British people in prison abroad that consider the UK to be their home. But unfortunately the number of Brits transferred has been steadily declining.

‘Last year only 22 repatriations, the lowest in the 15 years that records are available before. Back in 2010, there were 87.

‘It’s testament to the hard work of UK government officials that have helped make this news happen today, and we hope the government can build on this to help reverse that decline in numbers so that wherever possible British people can be transferred back to the UK to complete their sentence; closer to their family and give them the best possible chance of a positive future on release.’

Lindsay’s sentencing to death by firing squaddrew audible gasps of shockwhen it was announced at a court in Bali.

She had claimed to have been coerced into acting as a mule for drug traffickers while fearing her son was in danger. Human rights charity Reprieve said she had been exploited due to mental health issues.

In 2015,she met her then two-year-old granddaughter, Ayla, for the first timein a room at the prison.

At the time, the grandmother said: ‘I know this may be the first and last time I ever hold my granddaughter.’

Four years later, she said the authorities should ‘get on with it’ as she feared public humiliation more than death.

From prison she said: ‘Dying doesn’t bother me.

‘What I am uncomfortable about is the public humiliation.

‘You’re dragged half-way around the country and paraded in front of the press before being executed and that will be the worst thing for me.

‘My attitude is “If you want to shoot me, shoot me. Get on with it.”

‘I’ve done a terrible thing, I know, but the worst thing is the ritual public humiliation they seem to enjoy.’

Lindsay’s freedom brings an end to an ordeal which at one point left her fearing execution at 72 hours’ notice.

Two separate appeals – to the High Court in Bali and the Indonesian Supreme Court – were rejected.

Speaking about her sentence in 2019, she said: ‘ ‘My execution is imminent and I know I might die at any time now.

‘I could be taken tomorrow from my cell in Bali to Nusa Kambangan – the place they call Execution Island – and given 72 hours’ notice before I am put in front of a firing squad.

‘I still find it hard to believe how my life has been turned upside down in the last few years and how I ended up here alone in a prison on the other side of the world, waiting to be told when I will die.’

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office toldMetrothis afternoon: ‘We are supporting two British nationals detained in Indonesia and are in close contact with the Indonesian authorities to discuss their return to the UK.’ 

Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk

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