Lindsay Sandiford

Lindsay June Sandiford (born 25 June 1956) is a former legal secretary and convicted drug smuggler from Redcar, Teesside in North Yorkshire, England who was sentenced to death in January 2013 by a court in Indonesia after being found guilty of smuggling cocaine into Bali. Although death is the maximum punishment for drugs-related offences under Indonesian law, the severity of the sentence was greeted with shock because prosecutors had not recommended the death penalty for Sandiford. The ruling was also condemned by the British government and anti-death penalty campaigners.

Sandiford was arrested on 19 May 2012 after arriving at the island's Ngurah Rai International Airport on a flight from Bangkok when a routine luggage search uncovered the drugs stash. Under subsequent police interrogation she claimed to have been coerced into carrying the drugs by a criminal gang that had made threats against her family, and took part in a sting operation to arrest several other individuals she alleged to be part of a drugs trafficking ring.

In December 2012, she was convicted of drug smuggling at Denpasar District Court and sentenced to death by firing squad in January 2013. By contrast, the others involved in the case were convicted of lesser drugs-related offences and received custodial sentences. Prosecutors had recommended Sandiford should also receive a custodial sentence because of her willingness to cooperate with police, but the panel of judges overseeing the hearing felt her actions had undermined Indonesia's anti-drugs policy and concluded there were no mitigating circumstances in her favour.

Sandiford subsequently launched an appeal against the court's decision. She had funded her own defence costs during the initial trial but had no money for representation at appeal. Funds were subsequently raised to pay for an appeal lawyer, and the appeals procedure began. In the United Kingdom lawyers applied to seek a judicial review of the government's stance of not providing financial aid for Britons facing criminal proceedings overseas, but their legal challenge was dismissed by judges at the High Court of England and Wales on the grounds that Sandiford had little chance in successfully appealing the sentence. An appeal arguing the government's position was unlawful was also rejected. The British government submitted a statement to the Court in Bali alleging unlawful behaviour towards Sandiford by officials at the time of her arrest. The High Court in Bali rejected the first stage of Sandiford's appeal in April 2013, upholding the death sentence. An appeal was subsequently lodged with the country's Supreme Court, but in August this was also rejected. Provided by Wikipedia