UK Drug Convict Sandra Gregory Held At Bangkok Airport

[mrtoad]

Not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Yeah, I'd agree more of a Spanner I'd say.

[roiethome]

I cannot believe that there are posts suggesting forgiveness and sympathy for her.

She is a convicted criminal and had to be punished under the laws of Thailand.

If more western countries adopted the same attitude as Thailand and kept the death penalty there would be far fewer like her making money from drugs.

I would have made her serve every day at the Bangkok Hilton.

Glad she was refused and hope she makes no more money out of this episode.

[mrtoad]

I'm a volunteer at a Thai rehab center and I see this firsthand. <snip>

Oh, that's always such a great way to gain support for your cause. Besides punching someone in the face makes them suffer more brain damage, hence more ignorant?

I'm glad I don't work with this guy, anyone with that sort of attitude should stay well clear of any professions dealing with people.

[neverdie]

I'm a volunteer at a Thai rehab center and I see this firsthand.((edit - lopburi3)).

Oh, that's always such a great way to gain support for your cause. Besides punching someone in the face makes them suffer more brain damage, hence more ignorant?

I'm glad I don't work with this guy, anyone with that sort of attitude should stay well clear of any professions dealing with people.

I could be wrong, but i think one of the mods has missed this quote above, as the original post has been modified to remove that bit, now theres like hundred posts with it in it.

[leebeeUK]

Doh!! And she expected what, a red carpet?... room at the Hilton? As has been said visa to travel is not a guarantee of entry, but then most people once burned don't go poking around in the fire again!!!

Edited December 3, 2009 by leebeeUK

[timbothaivisa]

Wonder if she was a planning a 'Kill Bill' special - that would have wrapped up a loose end & put a ghost to rest. If so he's having a chuckle reading this! Can't believe she didn't come via Laos/Cambodia/etc - quite daft.

[Junglejumbo]

The consul that issued that visa has some 'splainin to do. A major lapse in judgement.

Although sympathetic to her statement, &lt;deleted&gt; was she thinking? It was obvious someone was going to say no at some point. The Thai government, any government for that matter, doesn't want this type of visitor.

Not sure if a consul has a list of evey person blacklisted.

Remember, getting a visa only means you are allowed to travel to Thailand and ask for permission to enter. It does not mean you will get that permission. The permission to enter is a seperate thing, which can be denied.

Correct! Any Thai consul will take your dosh but it doesn't mean you have any rite to enter the Kingdom.

I am not sure of that! The Consulates are supposed to issue the visa upon checking the person's identity! And that includes checking whether these persons are blacklisted or not. Every peron's application has to be checked this way, either at the Consulate itself or at the Ministry Of Foreign Affairs of the country concerned. Once the visa issued, the person has the right to travel to that destination and every aberrance from this is a reason for eyebrowsing and may question responsibilities...

Otherwise, Visa's would be no longer an issue...

I don't think that this is correct. We can all travel to a border without a visa. Airline staff don't check for visas.

Surely the visa does allow you to enter providing that you have the correct documentation at the immigration check point. Besides the visa, a real passport, enough money on inspection, no illnesses, no illegal items, etc.

All embassies have the ability to check for black lists, although I don't know if the black list is the same everywhere.

The lady who wrote the book

This was the lady who wrote the book (Forget you had a daughter). I read it. I remember her saying that her biggest mistake was agreeing to return to the Kent jail where is was cold and mentally torturing whereas Thailand was more a physical thing.

One thing I didn't like about her book was that even after admitted her guilt in the early pages she mentioned at least a couple of times how she shouldn't have to be anywhere near peodophiles and was horrified that one might be on the same floor as her (even in a ladies prison). She failed to see that her own crime was also a crime against humanity. And that in fact many of the children who would end up selling themselves for sex in Japan (where she was trying to export the drugs) would come from families addicted to her drugs....or even the kids would be taking the drugs...This attitude really annoyed me and she kept it up right through the book. It would've been better had she recognised how her crime is actully similar to that of a child molester in both the drug abuse and indirectly causing the child to be molested.

[phetaroi]

This girl made an error of judgement some 16-odd years ago and may have strong personal reasons to revisit the 'scene of the crime'. What's that annoying term the media bandies about these days, "Seeking closure?" The Thai Immigration authorities see otherwise and that is entirely their call; it is their country after all. However, I am amazed at how many forumites quickly dam_n her as a junkie and life-time criminal without probably even knowing about her until the BBC reported this. Whatever happened to forgiveness and benefit of the doubt?

As for the suggestion that convicted criminals be prevented from getting a passport; give me a break. Can you imagine the surge in the illegal passport/visa 'industry' if governments try that one on? It will also spark up the civil liberties brigade and make lots and lots of money for attorneys and lawyers.

I think it is extremely naive to believe that felony convictions disappear. Even more naive to believe that one that ended up with a royal pardon would disappear. Although the young don't like to admit it, there are things one does in life that close certain doors. This woman is deluded to think the Thai welcome mat would still be open to her. She not only broke the law, but she was also an embarrassment to the Thai nation and the monarchy.

Once you're an ex-con -- at least in America -- there is no fair shake or forgiveness. That only happened in the movies back in the 30's and 40's. There is no fresh start for the vast, vast majority of ex-cons. Not saying that's right, just saying it's reality.

Edited December 3, 2009 by phetaroi

[Brewsta]

They should have denied her Visa. Just shows how paper work ends up here in big piles next to every lost left sock.

err....a couple of Consulates that I have used for years actually issue a non-Imm O in 15-20 minutes.....

hardly time to check out an applicant properly, methinks....money,money, get their dosh!

Same &lt;deleted&gt;, different day.

rgdz,

Brewsta

[phetaroi]

I will agree with you on the point I think your trying to make, there are certainly some harsh comments in the thread, I'm not quite sure I would throw my handbag down over them though.

You carry a handbag?

[Somrak]

a bit foolish on her behalf i think.....

Sorry, i think a bit foolish on the behalf of the thai. immigration and one moore bad promotion for the country again.

The peoples will speek again about her incredible sentenc many years ago and may think twice go to a country with such barbarious laws!?

Nothing wrong with her visiting Thailand. She get pardonet by the king and has a visa.

[Jimjim]

Foolish only if she was blacklisted and knew it. Getting imprisoned in Thailand is not an automatic blacklisting, no matter what their official code says, and I guess since she had a visa she figured it was alright. She should have just changed her name. Maybe that would have worked.

[NanLaew]

I cannot believe that there are posts suggesting forgiveness and sympathy for her.

She is a convicted criminal and had to be punished under the laws of Thailand.

If more western countries adopted the same attitude as Thailand and kept the death penalty there would be far fewer like her making money from drugs.

I would have made her serve every day at the Bangkok Hilton.

Glad she was refused and hope she makes no more money out of this episode.

She was a convicted criminal and served her time after the death sentence was commuted and was subsequently pardoned. Nobody is claiming she was innocent here. What part of a criminal conviction and sentence means that it has to be a 'life sentence' with regard to being socially stigmatised and given some sub-human classification for the rest of your life? It's so easy to compartmentalize human beings on paper isn't it?

Now, how do you want your convicted criminals to be publicly marked? Shaved heads? A noticeable tattoo maybe? Maybe banish them to some faraway place?

[chuang]

..." loose end"....must be drug money she left behind....

[JulesMad]

Not what you call "smart".... Maybe smoked a bit too much

[TAWP]

Now, how do you want your convicted criminals to be publicly marked? Shaved heads? A noticeable tattoo maybe? Maybe banish them to some faraway place?

I'm sure some here would like the convicts to wear paper-stars needled to their shirts after their time served.

[mrdome]

A number of thoughts come to mind here:

She's lucky to have been spared death.

Did she inquire beforehand at all if she would be admitted?

Did she, like most people, mistake the visa as a green light for entry when that is actually not so?

[jamesjdaly]

If she were to change her name by deed poll and get a new passport (100% legal in the UK), would she still have been caught or would she have slipped thru?!!

[astral]

As I understand it the consulates do not have access to the Black List,

only Immigration.

As stated a name change would have done the trick.

A silly move on her part, but she will be home soon.

[bellste]

Loose ends is when she made some drug business tie/connections/contacts to better smugle drugs thru and out of the kingdom. Once a junky always a junky! Some people never learn because the craving for dugs is just too great.

I suggest you read her book, she was not a junky, she was a 'mule'.

And I thought that she had already returned to Thailand previously, before this time.

Do you believe that she was a "mule"? I heard an interview with her, on a radio station in Spain, after she published her book. There she should try to explain how these things happened, after she left this beach hut, which she shared with a man, when she lived for a year without a penny in income.

I'm afraid I didn't believe anything of her story. She met herself in the door many times.

On the radio, she also told, that she had been banned from visiting Thailand for life. Silly British woman, is my judgment. One of those who never learn.

Edited December 3, 2009 by bellste

[swillowbee]

. . . and she's an Oxford grad, now is she? . . . ya' just gotta' wonder about Oxford's admission standards these days . . . what . . . an . . . idiot!

[shaunoro]

I think she should be jailed in Thailand.

Finish off the 25 year term that she did not serve in Kent.

She got off far too lightly.

[BSJ]

I think she should be jailed in Thailand.

Finish off the 25 year term that she did not serve in Kent.

She got off far too lightly.

Yer, I was doing the numbers too! Maybe there was a mix up between the Thai calender and the British one!

[beekaykay]

The consul that issued that visa has some 'splainin to do. A major lapse in judgement.

Although sympathetic to her statement, &lt;deleted&gt; was she thinking? It was obvious someone was going to say no at some point. The Thai government, any government for that matter, doesn't want this type of visitor.

Not sure if a consul has a list of evey person blacklisted.

Remember, getting a visa only means you are allowed to travel to Thailand and ask for permission to enter. It does not mean you will get that permission. The permission to enter is a seperate thing, which can be denied.

Correct...

A visa does not guarantee a traveler entry into a foreign country. Rather, it allows a traveler into a country's point-of-entry, at which point government inspectors review the traveler's visa and authorize or deny entry into the country.

[PattayaParent]

I cannot believe that there are posts suggesting forgiveness and sympathy for her.

She is a convicted criminal and had to be punished under the laws of Thailand.

If more western countries adopted the same attitude as Thailand and kept the death penalty there would be far fewer like her making money from drugs.

I would have made her serve every day at the Bangkok Hilton.

Glad she was refused and hope she makes no more money out of this episode.

Someone again that has no konwledge of the woman and the circumstances.

She has no problem with the fact that she was punished.

She would rather have served her sentence in Bangkok than UK.

She didn't make any money from carrying drugs for another passenger on the flight.

[Briggsy]

The consul that issued that visa has some 'splainin to do. A major lapse in judgement.

Although sympathetic to her statement, &lt;deleted&gt; was she thinking? It was obvious someone was going to say no at some point. The Thai government, any government for that matter, doesn't want this type of visitor.

Not sure if a consul has a list of evey person blacklisted.

Remember, getting a visa only means you are allowed to travel to Thailand and ask for permission to enter. It does not mean you will get that permission. The permission to enter is a seperate thing, which can be denied.

Absolutely right. Each and every consulate does not have access to the database available to the Thai immigration dept.

If anybody has seen her on TV in the UK or read her book, you will know she has an excuse lined up for every self-serving, high-risk action she chooses to take. "Sorry, it was my fault," appears not to be in her vocabulary.

[LazarusLong]

Again, find out what you're talking about before opening your mouth.

She was not a drugs dealer either.

She was carrying an amount that would not even have gotten a custodial sentence in UK.

That may be. However, she clearly is and has been an adult at that time which means that she MUST have been aware of the "Zero Tolerance" policy regarding drugs in Thai law.

Each country is free to impose their own rights, dues and laws - I wouldn't want to live in the UK, after all, with all my e-mails checked and 100% CCTV supervised.

So my point is: Either COMPLY with the laws of your host country or bust.

What will it be next - complaining that you can not run a porn fair in Riyadh ?

Be clear about it - if you do not like the laws of a particular country you are free NOT to go there.

If I would want to do some weed smoking I'd travel to Cambodia where everything goes for $$$.

ANd please don't tell me that especially Meth consumption is a big issue in thailand as well:

As true as that may be, the laws exist and everyone thinking of drug use or drug running into and out of Thailand, Malysia or Singapore should be prepared for death row or life. I am unable to pity the crackheads who come up with statements that "I never tought, imagined, assumed, knew, figured....that...".

Mind the old saying that "assuming makes an a** out of u and me".

Laz

[HerbalEd]

The consul that issued that visa has some 'splainin to do. A major lapse in judgement.

Although sympathetic to her statement, &lt;deleted&gt; was she thinking? It was obvious someone was going to say no at some point. The Thai government, any government for that matter, doesn't want this type of visitor.

Not sure if a consul has a list of evey person blacklisted.

Remember, getting a visa only means you are allowed to travel to Thailand and ask for permission to enter. It does not mean you will get that permission. The permission to enter is a seperate thing, which can be denied.

The embassy may not have the blacklist ... although they should ... but obviously the immigration officer that caught her has one. Good for them.

[theoldgit]

She would rather have served her sentence in Bangkok than UK.

Was this fact in her book?

If she wanted to serve her sentence in Thailand why did she return to The UK? To be considered to for repatriation to your home country under the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons you have to actually apply, they don't just pack your bags and cart you home to serve your sentence.

[theoldgit]

The embassy may not have the blacklist ... although they should ... but obviously the immigration officer that caught her has one. Good for them.

The UK for instance has a "Warnings Index" which will identify anybody who needs further examination when their passport is swiped at the port of entry, I imagine that this information would be available to an ECO in UK Visas in Bangkok when assessing an application.

It would seem that Thai Immigration Officers have a similar function available when they swipe passports but whether information is shared with overseas embassies and consulates I don't know, but it would seem not.