British dad jailed in Thailand for 'abducting' son who 'asked to be taken away'

[JLCrab]

No -- I have no grasp of the story especially as to why the Founder and CEO of a UK based charity whose previous 2012 exploits in Thailand have been suggested to be made into a movie and a newspaper profile declared his exploits to be in the vein of John LeCarre or Sylvester Stallone is now sitting in a Thai jail.

[Tilacme]

3 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

No -- I have no grasp of the story especially as to why the Founder and CEO of a UK based charity whose previous 2012 exploits in Thailand have been suggested to be made into a movie and a newspaper profile declared his exploits to be in the vein of John LeCarre or Sylvester Stallone is now sitting in a Thai jail.

Wow, is that a giant OFF TOPIC comment or do i need to readdresses this matter

[JLCrab]

5 minutes ago, Tilacme said:

Wow, is that a giant OFF TOPIC comment or do i need to readdresses this matter

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/dads-frantic-thai-search-son-7797

[brewsterbudgen]

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/dads-frantic-thai-search-son-7797

Wow. I wonder if him being locked up in a Thai jail while trying to "save" another child will feature in the movie? Seems like the movie will be full of cliches.

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[JLCrab]

4 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Wow. I wonder if him being locked up in a Thai jail while trying to "save" another child will feature in the movie? Seems like the movie will be full of cliches.

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What I wonder is were the Thai cops waiting for him to return to Thailand and pull off another one of his daring rescues.

[tropo]

23 hours ago, wabothai said:

23 hours ago, sanemax said:

I am quite sure that the reason for their hostility wasnt just because you are a Felang living in Thailand, there must have been more to it than that 

Hidden hostility through ignorant jealousy.

You're spot on. Jealousy toward my wife is the reason it started.

[Tilacme]

8 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

What I wonder is were the Thai cops waiting for him to return to Thailand and pull off another one of his daring rescues.

I think someone earlier said the Lao border crossing would have been a better option. Yes i know he was stupid but i dare say he has no regrets.

[JLCrab]

3 minutes ago, Tilacme said:

I think someone earlier said the Lao border crossing would have been a better option. Yes i know he was stupid but i dare say he has no regrets.

Who was stupid?

[Tilacme]

1 minute ago, JLCrab said:

Who was stupid?

British dad

[tropo]

23 hours ago, wabothai said:

On 2/25/2018 at 1:43 PM, richard_smith237 said:

But some people are calling the whole field of daisies a pile of shit because they stepped in some...  which does come across as being bitter.

 

I think that’s the point Rob was making.

 

the field of daisies can hold many mines

You've got that right. Minefields are the most dangerous fields of all, no matter how many daisies are making it pretty. A good reason why people should exercise extreme caution when considering Thailand as a home. I'm sure Jodie Smith would agree.

[Tilacme]

1 minute ago, tropo said:

You've got that right. Minefields are the most dangerous fields of all, no matter how many daisies are making it pretty. A good reason why people should exercise extreme caution when considering Thailand as a home. I'm sure Jodie Smith would agree.

I agree, enjoy your retirement in Macclesfield. 

[JLCrab]

3 minutes ago, Tilacme said:

British dad

Highly unlikely he was the one calling the shots.

[Tilacme]

Just now, JLCrab said:

Highly unlikely he was the one calling the shots.

He was calling his own shots as a father, isn't that the mens ria?

[JLCrab]

So why then were 2 persons arrested and now sitting in jail?

[Tilacme]

5 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

So why then were 2 persons arrested and now sitting in jail?

I would have thought that was rather obvious, because they got caught?

5 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

So why then were 2 persons arrested and now sitting in jail?

 

[BEVUP]

6 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

So why then were 2 persons arrested and now sitting in jail?

Exactly as I said before - What evidence did they have on Felton if they got him 2 days later

Did he go along & enter property ?

Was  he trying to take him through customs/immigration at airport ?

Or did Smith tell them about him who may have been holding important documents

Where did they get Felton ?

Why didn't he bail after maybe knowing Smith didn't get through Customs/Immi

[amykat]

Lidia said: “When they finally found Joleon, he was in the care of his 10-year-old aunt and it was a completely unacceptable situation.

“They waited for Jintra and when she didn’t return, Joleon took the decision to take his son.

“Within hours, Jintra rang Jodie and he confirmed he was with Joleon. Jintra even told him, ‘Take him with you. He will have a better life in the UK’.

“Joleon made the decision to go straight to Bangkok airport where he was arrested. They were then taken back to Sakon Nakhon where Jintra was waiting for them at the police station.

“She told Jodie she would drop the charges for money and a plane ticket for her back to the UK. He rang me and I started asking family and friends to help me raise the money when he called again and said, ‘Don’t send any money’.

“Shortly after, the Foreign Office called me and told me he has been taken to prison.”

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-dad-jailed-thailand-abducting-12083653

 

It says in this article that Felton was charged with trespassing and that he denies that charge.

[brewsterbudgen]

Lidia said: “When they finally found Joleon, he was in the care of his 10-year-old aunt and it was a completely unacceptable situation.

“They waited for Jintra and when she didn’t return, Joleon took the decision to take his son.

“Within hours, Jintra rang Jodie and he confirmed he was with Joleon. Jintra even told him, ‘Take him with you. He will have a better life in the UK’.

“Joleon made the decision to go straight to Bangkok airport where he was arrested. They were then taken back to Sakon Nakhon where Jintra was waiting for them at the police station.

“She told Jodie she would drop the charges for money and a plane ticket for her back to the UK. He rang me and I started asking family and friends to help me raise the money when he called again and said, ‘Don’t send any money’.

[/url]

“Shortly after, the Foreign Office called me and told me he has been taken to prison.”

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-dad-jailed-thailand-abducting-12083653

 

It says in this article that Felton was charged with trespassing and that he denies that charge.

 

A shoddily written article, full of inaccuracies. The 9 year-old boy is Joleon. Maybe the Mirror no longer has sub-editors.

 

 

 

[amykat]

Hmm, I wonder how many of you just have verbal confirmation that it is okay to travel with your child??  I think many of you.  Think what could happen if the other parent decides to F' you over??

[amykat]

1 minute ago, brewsterbudgen said:

A shoddily written article, full of inaccuracies. The 9 year-old boy is Joleon. Maybe the Mirror no longer has sub-editors.

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Well there are 3 people with names that start with J ...that does not mean that the context of the story is incorrect. It is perfectly plausible that this happened.  Why would they make that up out of thin air? That sounds totally typical of what happens here!!

[brewsterbudgen]

Well there are 3 people with names that start with J ...that does not mean that the context of the story is incorrect. It is perfectly plausible that this happened.  Why would they make that up out of thin air? That sounds totally typical of what happens here!!

Indeed. However there have been much more accurate versions, posted earlier in the thread, mostly from the Scottish press.

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[amykat]

1 minute ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Indeed. However there have been much more accurate versions, posted earlier in the thread, mostly from the Scottish press.

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Yes, I believe I read those, but this is additional information, is it not?  Sometimes I am finding little extra pieces of the puzzle that might explain what the father did and give him more of a defense, which he may well deserve.  MAYBE he would not have left Thailand yet, had she NOT said that. How do you know??  I know you LIKE HER, but that does not excuse what she did. Had she NOT done that, nobody would be in jail right now!!  She not only brought the child without his permission, but she cut all contact and the father had no idea where they were of if they were ever coming back. That is not normal behavior!!   So I am going to find any news that I see that adds to the story and if someone knows it is not true, than please show me or argue why it does not make sense.

 

There are two fathers in jail right now due to her breaking laws and her bad judgement!!

[Awk]

14 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

BBC says NO, (August 2011) ..... who to believe?

"British authorities have no jurisdiction in Thailand, which is not a signatory of the Hague Convention, and abduction is not considered a crime in the Thai Kingdom."

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-14737210

 

•  

 

BBC is wrong.    The other parts I believe are more or less correct.

 

Like some others I think there must be a bit more to this than just the father trying to leave Thailand with his son as normal, then being caught in a random spot check during passport control.  I don't feel the need to insinuate anything bad about the guy who apparently tried to help the father though, as some here do (not you).  Also because there are simpler explanations

 

Were the father to simply lack permission from the mother upon departure, which Thailand immigration does spot checks on, by all accounts I've read he would simply have been turned away together with his son, with nothing more happening.   "Get the permission paper and come back next day, thank you."

 

I at one time tried to get a qualified answer for how long it would take from the time one parent tried to report the other parent without permission leaving Thailand with a child the departing parent had shared custody over,  till the departing parent would face trouble at the border.  I did not get any reliable answer, but from what I guess happened here, the Thai authorities move fast in cases like this. And the mother must have know what to do and who to call too.

 

My sympathies to the father.  With better luck, this all might have gone very different for him and his son.   While his, as I understand it, verdict for full custody in the UK will not mean much in Thailand (because Thailand has not signed the Hague convention of 1996, only the one of 1980 regulating child abduction), possibly a good lawyer could use it as mitigating evidence of some sort.   I can recommend one for cases like this.

 

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by Awk

[MaeJoMTB]

10 hours ago, spermwhale said:

Are you certain? I thought I read that they did. 

No, not certain, BBC report says didn't.

 

[brewsterbudgen]

I've been in touch with the mother and, as I thought, she has every intention of going back to her life in Scotland - "when all the problems finish".

[MaeJoMTB]

44 minutes ago, amykat said:

Hmm, I wonder how many of you just have verbal confirmation that it is okay to travel with your child??  I think many of you.  Think what could happen if the other parent decides to F' you over??

I get my misses to write "I give permission for my husband to take our son to the UK" on a signed copy of her ID card and house book, along with her phone number.

[tukkytuktuk]

1 hour ago, brewsterbudgen said:

I've been in touch with the mother and, as I thought, she has every intention of going back to her life in Scotland - "when all the problems finish".

Can you go into detail a bit more?

Edited February 26, 2018 by tukkytuktuk

[brewsterbudgen]

Can you go into detail a bit more?

That is all she said.

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[tropo]

7 hours ago, Tilacme said:

I agree, enjoy your retirement in Macclesfield. 

I made it quite clear I'm retired IN the minefield aka Thailand. After 12 years I've learned how to dodge the mines. For newcomers, I would recommend against it.

Edited February 26, 2018 by tropo

[JLCrab]

8 hours ago, Awk said:

<snip>

Like some others I think there must be a bit more to this than just the father trying to leave Thailand with his son as normal, then being caught in a random spot check during passport control.  I don't feel the need to insinuate anything bad about the guy who apparently tried to help the father though, as some here do (not you).

<snip2>

I have expressed an interest in Mr. Felton's involvement in the whole affair. I wouldn't say he is a bad person but that he is now sitting in jail I think his judgment on how to handle matters may have been a bit off.

Edited February 26, 2018 by JLCrab