Death Row Gran Flies Home to UK After 13 Years in Bali Prison
Lindsay Sandiford, who spent 13 years on death row in Indonesia for smuggling cocaine, is flying home to the United Kingdom today. The 69-year-old former legal secretary was granted a UK-funded ticket worth £600 to leave Bali this afternoon.
Sandiford received the death penalty in 2013 after being convicted of smuggling £1.6 million worth of cocaine into the country. Her release marks the end of a long and painful ordeal spent in Kerobokan Prison, one of the toughest facilities in the world.
“Lindsay is extremely unwell. She is desperate to get home and to be with her family. More than a decade in one of the world's worst prisons has taken its toll on her and she wants nothing more than to get back to the UK.”
According to The Mirror, Sandiford will travel from her cell to Denpasar International Airport, where she will be handed over to UK Ambassador Dominic Jermey. She will be accompanied by fellow British inmate Shahab Shahabadi, 35, who has been serving a life sentence for drug offences since 2014. The pair will have a final media appearance before boarding their flight to London Heathrow, with a brief stopover along the way.
Author’s summary:
After 13 years awaiting execution in Bali, British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford finally returns to the UK, ending a long and tragic chapter in her life.