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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Lucy Skoulding

How British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford ended up sentenced to death in Bali

British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford is currently awaiting execution on death row in Bali after being convicted of smuggling cocaine onto the island.

The 65-year-old is currently in Kerobokan prison where there are about 1,000 inmates.

She was arrested in Bali in 2012 after she arrived there from Bangkok and cocaine was found in her luggage.

Sandiford, who was a former legal secretary, had spent many years working in a law firm in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

She initially insisted she had been forced into transporting the drugs by a criminal gang who had threatened to hurt her family if she didn't follow their orders.

The below timeline shows how Sandiford ended up in the Bali prison with a death sentence.

Sandiford went to Bangkok and met two people from a drug syndicate (AFP/Getty Images)

Early 2012: Sandiford moves to India from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England, and sets up home in the new country.

May 17, 2012: Sandiford went to Bangkok, Thailand, and met two people from a drug syndicate before collecting a suitcase filled with cocaine.

May 19, 2012: After arriving into Bali from Bangkok, Sandiford is arrested as drugs are found in her luggage. Police accuse her of being part of a drugs ring involving three other British people.

May 20, 2012: Sandiford cooperates with the police, giving them information about the drug syndicate. She claims she was coerced into transporting the drugs into Bali.

Police accused Sandiford of being part of a drugs ring involving three other British people (PA)
She was sentenced to death in January 2013 (PA)

January 22, 2013: Sandiford is sentenced to death, accused of smuggling 10.6lb of cocaine into Bali from Thailand. The prosecution had recommended she get 15 years in prison, but a panel of judges gave her the sentence of death by firing squad.

January 29, 2013: One of the three Brits detained after Sandiford was arrested for smuggling drugs, Julian Ponder, is cleared of smuggling but is convicted of possessing 23g of cocaine. Ponder, from Brighton, UK, was jailed for six years for drug offences.

She lost her first and second appeal against her death sentence (AFP/Getty Images)

January 31, 2013: Sandiford loses her bid for the UK government to fund a lawyer in her appeal against the death penalty.

February 15, 2013: The British consulate based in Bali submit a statement to Sandiford's appeal. The FCDO spokesperson says: “It continues to be the longstanding policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and we will do all we can to assist British nationals facing the death penalty.”

April 8, 2013: Sandiford loses her first appeal against her sentence, with appeal judges ruling the original decision was "accurate and correct".

Despite everything she feels 'blessed' to have seen her children grow up (AFP/Getty Images)

August 30, 2013: Sandiford loses a second appeal against the highest court in Indonesia. Chief judge Artidjo Alkostar says "the decision is unanimous".

February 22, 2019: Sandiford speaks to MailOnline from prison and says: “I have been blessed to live long enough to see my two sons grow up into fine young men and blessed to have been able to meet my two grandchildren. A lot of people don’t get that in their lifetime."

Mack said Sandiford pretty much spends all day alone in her cell (X01239)

May 18, 2019 : A fellow inmate, Heather Mack, who was jailed in 2015 after helping her boyfriend murder her mother spoke to The Mirror. Mack helped her partner wrap her mother's body in tape and stuff it in a suitcase before the pair tried to flee.

Mack said Sandiford “spends all day pretty much alone in her cell and doesn’t mix so much with the other prisoners.”

She added: “I am friends with Lindsay but she has been difficult to speak to recently.

"She snaps at me for no reason but I still make an effort with her. She has said she wants to die."

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