We often see these extremely long and some might argue horrific prison sentence given out to UK citizen in foreign countries and with the family of those convicted pleading with the UK government to help out, however it does make us wonder how many people actually read & think about the laws of a new country before they visit.
“More than 850* British nationals [2013] are currently locked up in prisons across the globe for drug-related offences, often detained for months without trial and facing distressing living conditions” – Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Recently ex-British Solider Lance Whitmore, 27, was arrested in Pattaya, Thailand with 200 ecstasy pills. After 10 months of waiting for sentencing we was given 50 years in prison. Yes 50 years.
His heartbroken mother, Debbie Caswell, said: “I am devastated. I don’t know how he will cope.”
The condition of the prison does sound horrific, with as many as “Seventy-five blokes in one cell with one toilet where there is Aids and everything else. If dogs were kept in those conditions, there would be outrage.”
The family are now hoping that crowd funding will help support their son with his legal fees, judging by some of the comments online the UK population has a mixed response to this suggestion. What are your thoughts?
Other cases such as the two UK women caught trying to smuggle cocaine out of Peru who were jailed for six years and eight months each, but even those girls 2 years later are still in Peru still hoping of a transfer back to the UK.
More information can be found on FCO press release ‘Drugs leave hundreds of Brits behind bars overseas‘.
