Thai Drugs Convict Seeks Pardon Over Prison Term

[churchill]

A Leicestershire man jailed for 29 years in Thailand for drugs offences today spoke of his desperate bid for freedom.

Steve Willcox is seeking a royal pardon from the King of Thailand and has written to MPs in this country to ask them for support.

He has also appealed through the High Court to be resentenced according to UK law, but an application for a judicial review has been denied.

Mr Willcox, of Blaby, who has already served nearly seven years in jail, admitted possessing drugs, in 2003, while living on the island of Koh Samui.

The 45-year-old is appealing for a pardon based on "compelling compassionate circumstances" and the severity of his sentence, which would have been far less had he committed the crime in the UK.

However, he has so far failed to get a response from the monarch, Bhumibol Adulyadej.

If he fails to get a pardon, or to be resentenced, he could be in prison until he is 68.

"I would be out now if this had happened here," said Mr Willcox, who was allowed to return to the UK to serve the remainder of his sentence in 2007 as part of a treaty agreement with Thailand.

"I'm not bitter towards the Thai government, I accept they have their laws.

"But why can't the Government here do something? They're keeping me here for a trivial crime."

Mr Willcox has always maintained that the small quantity of drugs – 0.8oz of heroin, 0.7oz of marijuana and several amphetamine and ecstasy tablets – found in his home were for personal use.

However, in Thailand that amount is legally considered enough to presume he was dealing, which carries serious penalties, sometimes even death.

In his first interview with the Leicester Mercury since being jailed, Mr Willcox said he did not want people to feel sorry for him, but wants Mercury readers to think about whether he still deserved to be in prison.

He also spoke about the harshness of the conditions he experienced in Thai jails and urged anyone tempted to break the law in Thailand to learn from his experiences.

In one Thai prison, he was kept in 12kg shackles for seven months, and was forced to live in a tiny cell among "a sea of bodies".

Water for the showers came from the sewers, and swarms of cockroaches infested the building.

He also witnessed guards beating inmates to "within an inch of their life," but says most European prisoners escaped that treatment.

"After I was first arrested, I was put in the Bambat remand prison and that was horrendous – everything you imagine a Thai prison to be," he said.

"As soon as I arrived, they welded on the shackles – and they were heavy. The first room they put me in had 67 people and it was about 15ft by 40ft.

"We'd be sleeping shoulder to shoulder – there wasn't room to lie on your back.

"Every day, we'd be in there from 3.30pm to 6.30am, when we'd be allowed to go out into the yard."

After sentencing, he was taken to Bangkwang Prison – ironically known as the 'Bangkok Hilton'.

"Visiting conditions were much better there," he said.

"When I first arrived I was put in shackles again, but only for a month.

"The conditions were similar though. The water was filthy – you could see the faeces in the water you were showering in.

"Sometimes you'd see a rat swim past.

"When you first arrive, you think 'no way, I'm not showering in that'. But you have to, if anything, just as a relief from the heat.

"We were constantly getting infections and there were cockroaches like you wouldn't believe."

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news...il/article.html

[siggie2]

Nobody should have to live like that,BUT,you do the crime,do the time.Everybody knows the laws in Thailand and many of these drug sellers/takers are deperate for a fix or to earn cash for the good life.

Get a job and earn money the right way

[TEFLMike]

People should know the rules in different countries, by now.

What happens in the UK as regards penalties, or indeed, the rest of the world, is of no concern to Thailand.

When in Rome...........

Edited December 29, 2009 by TEFLMike

[webfact]

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[richard_smith237]

The length of the sentence is extreme by British standards - Many will say the laws and sentences are soft, however that is not the issue here.

It maybe illegal but he was caught with tiny amounts, he should have known better yes.

29 years, when murder's get less seems quite extreme.

He's lucky to have been transfered to the UK, I'm assuming he is now serving with people who have committed far worse crimes and serving a lesser sentence.

I've never had anything to do with drugs or know anyone who has, however I still think the sentencing in Thailand is excessively high and unbalanced when compared to the way other crimes are handled here.

Good luck to him getting off - I'm sure he's learnt his lesson and if that was his only crime then he may well have served enough IMO.

[Gary A]

I have no sympathy for people stupid enough to get caught with drugs but after seven years in a Thai prison, I'd say he has paid enough for his stupidity.

[londonthai]

my stepson was doing 2 years for dealing drugs (was set up by the cop who was supplying him, when my stepson refused to deal anymore) - he was not in the shackles for any day and no dirty water with faeces for showering, swimming rats, cocroaches. Food was bad and he lost 20kg and got chilled wintertime, because there were no blankets.

my ex-girlfriend's daughter got a suspended sentence for dealing, because of her age (early twenties).

I would think that Steve was a dealer or a smuggler, was grassed or under a survailance - and on that ground he was sentenced that harshly. He is lucky to be in the uk prison in comfortable conditions, if he behaves he has a chance for an open prison

[rocketmanbkk]

He knew the laws, he was not in UK when he committed this crime so why should the sentence mirror a UK sentence.

I say leave him in jail for 29 years and he will never touch drugs again.

I also say to the UK government please take the Thai law of harsh punishments and apply them, we will then see what these scummy little drug dealers say when they are caught.

I hate drugs and those who use or deal them I say i hope you end up in jail with nothing after the proceeds of crime act confiscates what you have aqcuired!

[ukrules]

I also say to the UK government please take the Thai law of harsh punishments and apply them, we will then see what these scummy little drug dealers say when they are caught.

I hate drugs and those who use or deal them I say i hope you end up in jail with nothing after the proceeds of crime act confiscates what you have aqcuired!

You are of course talking utter rubbish, if every drug user was locked up all the time, tax would of course rise immeasurably and we would all be working to keep the evil joint smokers locked up in comfort for the rest of their lives. Get real. Never before have I read a post by someone who's views are so far removed from reality, I suggest you go and see a psychiatrist as there is clearly something wrong with you.

The laws regarding drugs in Thailand are primitive, like the old 'hung, drawn and quartered' sentence they used to pass on people a few hundred years ago, completely barbaric, uncalled for and used by nasty imbecilic people like your good self to tread on the general population.

[MrHammer]

Considering how widespread recreational use of drugs are in Thailand, personal use shouldn't be punished that harshly. Obviously Thailand has made the choice to strike down harshly on any foreigner suspected of selling drugs. Not a bad idea. It is a little stupid though that drugs like weed and meth is so widely available and normal and then crack down that hard on users. Isn't that sort of thing usually done with a nice bribe?

So I am inclined to doubt if this guy really only had drugs for himself? Heroin, meth and marihuana? Seems like hel_l of a cocktail.

[londonthai]

ps I have googled steave, and he was charged with manufacturing heroine and than supplying it to a mule, who was couth at the bangkok airport with 760g. The mule grassed steave

[Brunus]

Steve got greedy. He didn't pay the police. A rich guy killed innocent passengers getting off a bus and didn't go to jail. He paid. Thai way.....

[sacrificialpig]

he is lucky, he wasnt hung to death, or shot by rifles

[Boater]

dont other contries like Oz ect resentance the prisoners sent back ? , IE to fall in line with the country?

[Boater]

also to note, why oh why if he had such a small amount of ' Personal Drugs ' did he not pay his way out ? , he was caught in Samui where the BIB including the chief of Police in Nathon will always except Tea Money in such conditions

[londonthai]

he was charged with possesion, suplying a smuggler and production - originally he got life sentence slashed to 34 years and slashed again to 29.

as the only prisoner in the history of the bangkok hilton he had a permition to marry in a civil ceremony, so his kid can have british passport and his wife can travel.

at age of 27, straith after coming to thailand, he was an owner of a roaring estate agency, so that probably brought an attention of the drug police as money laundering (quite common for the drug dealers to launder money that way). If you read steves website it is obvious, that he has very little of a formal education and most probably did not inherit his wealth from his rich parents to open a big business in thailand. Most probably he made his money outside the law.

he was raided at his home by a 10 strong team send from the drug police from bangkok, and not searched at random in the pub or a discoteque. He could not bribe out for any money, most probably the whole search was videofilmed, because of the seriousness of the investigation.

Edited December 29, 2009 by londonthai

[dr_Pat_Pong]

dont other contries like Oz ect resentance the prisoners sent back ? , IE to fall in line with the country?

Not true at all.

[harrry]

As he does not like it in the ENglish prison can Thailand have him back?