Thanks for that I had difficult reading your press clipping sop I ran it through AI ... No 63 Quarterly | April 2010 Nine-year Press Freedom battle is wonANDREW IS VINDICATEDFREELANCE Andrew Drummond, 58, has been vindicated in his courageous fight to expose what happened to two Britons who invested in a hotel and a gay night-club owned by two Scots in Pattaya, Thailand. The Thai Appeal Court cleared Andrew of two convictions of criminal libel against James Lumsden, 59. He and his partner Gordon May, 67, were the biggest foreign players in the resort's gay sex industry. The Appeal Judges, Soramee Sirmunakan, Sitisak Wanachikij, and Ariya Navinturn ruled: "The defendant was doing his job as a journalist, making facts public for foreigners doing business in Thailand. There is nothing defamatory in what he wrote." FireAndrew revealed the misfortunes that befell Ian Macdonald and Kevin Quill after they went into business with Lumsden and May. Macdonald died in a fire and Quill was framed and jailed for six years. Andrew's sweet victory came after a nine-year court battle during which he lived under the constant threat of imprisonment and saw his income plummet as he grappled to fight the case. He had to sell his part share of his house in England to raise money for his legal costs. BAJ launched a campaign fund in 2004 with the Foreign Correspondents Club in Thailand to help Andrew meet his legal costs and living expenses. The campaign raised £8,500 in the UK, including £1,000 from BAJ. Andrew, worked at the Daily Mail and was an award-winning investigative journalist at the News of the World. He is the former correspondent of The Times and The Observer in Thailand, and more recently exposed the sordid life of ex-rock star Gary Glitter in Vietnam. Andrew said: "I am very pleased. But this is small consolation for Ian Macdonald's family and Kevin Quill and his family. Their lives have been devastated. "My thanks must go to General Secretary Steve Turner for his never-ending support and encouragement and my colleagues on newspapers in the UK and their homes who helped pay my expenses." Turner said: "Andrew's acquittal is wonderful news. He had the threat of prison hanging over him for years, but he didn't flinch from standing up for justice. "Andrew acted in the best traditions of journalism and I am extremely proud to have supported him. He has given every journalist cause to celebrate." Andrew's original reports were printed in London and Glasgow. However, Lumsden chose not to sue until the Bangkok Post printed two of Andrew's stories. Unfortunately, the Bangkok Post chose not to fight alongside Andrew when Lumsden issued legal proceedings. It capitulated to Lumsden, printing three apologies attributing blame to Andrew. The newspaper also reported the verdict of a lower court to impose two suspended prison sentences of two years each on Andrew for criminal libel. It has, so far, refused to report Andrew's acquittal. The story Andrew uncovered was that in April 1990, Macdonald, 28, the son of a former Provost of Inverness, died in a fire at the Ambiance Hotel in Pattaya, owned by Lumsden & May. It was just one month after he had inexplicably bequeathed his £250,000 investment in May and Lumsden's business, to May's boyfriend — a Thai male a-go-go dancer. IllegalThe will was illegal, because it was signed by the beneficiary. The a-go-go dancer got nothing and Ian's mother, Eileen MacDonald got nothing either. A second businessman Kevin Quill, 39, from Bradford, Yorkshire, invested over £300,000 in another hotel-and-bar business with May and Lumsden. Quill was arrested in 2000 by Pattaya police after leaving the Ambiance Hotel. When police searched his luggage they found drugs in a packet of cigarettes. A senior policeman in Bangkok admitted Quill was framed, but the business man was jailed for six years and never got his money back. BAJ salutes Andrew for his tenacious and successful fight for the right of journalists to expose wrong-doing.
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