Indonesian authorities said they agreed to transfer drugs mule Lindsay Sandiford back to the UK after an application by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper
Frail drugs mule Lindsay Sandiford was granted a last-minute reprieve from Bali’s death after a plea from Keir Starmer over fears for her health, the Mirror can reveal.
The legal secretary, 69 – handed the death penalty in 2013 for smuggling £1.6m of cocaine – is due to jet back to the UK in days. She has spent 12 years awaiting execution in Indonesia’s notorious Kerobokan prison after claiming a UK-based drug syndicate forced her to smuggle the drugs from Thailand.
But officials in Indonesia have now agreed to her transfer home and said she is “seriously ill” after UK doctors were able to carry out a medical assessment. Sources in Indonesia say Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made a personal plea to the Indonesian authorities for Sandiford’s return.
It’s believed a meeting to finalise her release could take place as early as Thursday and she will be handed over to UK authorities at the airport. An insider said: “Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper both submitted a request to the Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto for Sandiford to be transferred back to the UK.
“It marks the end of a harrowing time for Sandiford who has been desperate to come home. It’s also a significant step in international relations with Indonesia. Officials struck the deal on the basis that the UK Government would also be obliged to listen to applications for the repatriation of any Indonesian prisoners currently serving sentences in the UK.”
Indonesia’s senior law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra yesterday revealed Sandiford was “seriously ill”. Yusril said Sandiford has been “examined by our doctor, as well as by the doctor from the British consulate in Bali, and is seriously ill”. She will be transferred back to the UK, alongside Shahab Shahabadi, a 35-year-old serving a life sentence for drug offences after his arrest in 2014.
Yusril added “not only the Foreign Secretary but also the British Prime Minister officially submitted a request to President Prabowo Subianto for these two prisoners to be transferred to the UK”. “We agreed to grant the transfers of the prisoners to the UK. The agreement has been signed,” Yusril said in the capital Jakarta.
He was seen signing an agreement with the British Ambassador to Indonesia Dominic Jermey as news of the transfer was announced. Gran Sandiford relocated to India in 2012 after being evicted from her rented home in Cheltenham, Gloucs. After arriving in Bali from Bangkok, Thailand, in May 2012, she was arrested with a haul of cocaine in her luggage.
Sandiford maintained that she had been forced to carry the Class A drugs by a criminal gang, who had threatened her family if she didn’t comply. But, the grandmother dramatically changed her story when she was told a conviction for drug trafficking would lead to the death penalty.
She admitted to officers that she had been asked to transport the drugs by an antiques dealer named Julian Ponder, a Brit living in Bali, and his partner Rachel Dougall. Sandiford even agreed to take part in a police sting operation to catch the pair, along with a third person, Paul Beales. After a search of Ponder’s home, both he and Sandiford were charged with drug trafficking.
Sandiford’s legal team argued that she had been forced into transporting the drugs and was dealing with mental health problems. Their appeals were dismissed and she was found guilty – even though the prosecution had requested a 15-year prison sentence instead of the death penalty.
World-renowned human rights barrister Dr Felicity Gerry KC – who visited Sandiford in 2015 and has campaigned for her release – demanded that she be freed as soon as she touches down on UK soil. UK law dictates British prisoners can be repatriated home to finish their sentence if a deal can be struck between the two countries.
There is a possibility – because the death sentence does not exist in the UK – Sandiford would have to complete any remaining prison sentence when she arrived home. But Dr Gerry said that Sandiford’s 12-year sentence – which would amount to 24 years in the UK because inmates are released half way through their term – should signal her release.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Dr Gerry said: “Of course I’m delighted and it’s a really significant step in her case. She spent over a decade held on death row under threat of execution. She maintained that she was coerced and what everybody always forgets is that she significantly assisted the investigators so she’s not someone who should’ve spent that amount of time in custody.
“I think it’s a really good example of international cooperation and I’m delighted that she’s coming home. But I hope it happens as soon as possible and I also hope that when she gets here she doesn’t have to serve any more time and that she’s considered for immediate release.” She added: “Prison is generally brutal and particularly brutal for women.
“You see people truly suffering so I imagine she will need psychological assistance when she comes home because living under the threat of death every single day will have had a profound effect on her.” Sandiford has twice appealed her sentence, once with the High Court in Bali and then again with the Indonesian Supreme Court – but both were swiftly rejected.
After the failed attempts, Sandiford came out to say she had accepted dying in prison or being taken to Indonesia’s nearby Nusa Kambangan, chillingly nicknamed “Execution Island”, where she would face the firing squad. When asked if she feared the firing squad, Sandiford said: “It won’t be a hard thing for me to face anymore.
“Dying doesn’t bother me. I never thought I’d last this long to be honest.” Sandiford, originally from Redcar in Teesside, said she was going to sing the Perry Como hit Magic Moments in her final moments to stay positive.
Last year the Mirror revealed Sandiford was desperately hoping for her freedom after Indonesia relaxed their notoriously strict laws on drug trafficking. Indonesia hasn’t carried out any form of execution since 2016. And we revealed that while inside the hellish Kerobokan prison she earned the nickname “Grandmother” while teaching others to knit.
Some sources said she enjoyed special privileges – including medium-rare steak dinners – while others described her as “foul-mouthed, antagonistic”.
She was forced to endure a life of pain after developing arthritis while locked away inside a cramped 16ft-by-16ft cell she shares with four other female prisoners.
An FCDO spokesperson said: “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.”
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s administration has repatriated several high-profile inmates, all sentenced for drug offences, since he took office in October last year. In December, Filipina inmate Mary Jane Veloso tearfully reunited with her family after nearly 15 years on death row. In February, French national Serge Atlaoui, 61, was returned home after 18 years on death row.
