Former British soldier jailed for 50 years in Thailand for drug dealing

[Franky Bear]

Please don't call him an ex-soldier - I just found this "Whitmore moved to Thailand five years ago where he found work with Petroleum Oil Services after he discharged himself from the Army following a back injury while training." - He never even completed training ! He is not an ex-soldier, he is a failed recruit.

I think "failed recruit" is unfair when anyone is medically discharged

Fact is he did join up which means he had the mindset to serve his country

He discharged himself, he was not medically discharged.

Ahhhhh

He could t handle it then

[ukrules]

I would like to know which judges made this decision, actual names.

[vogie]

So, come on members of the hang 'em high club, what are you waiting for?

I was waiting for the computer to warm up...

more seriously, this is disproportionate to the crime committed by far. and there hundreds of

other cases that people got away with much with less jail time,

Thai justice, much can be said about it, being fair, above board and proportional are not

what I would have described it...

let's hope that an appeal in front of other non hanging judges will reduce the term significantly....

A guy in our village recently got out after 6 years for dealing a similar amount.

Seems an example is being set.

Yes because he's a foreigner

No, he's an idiot!

[uptheos]

Imo a racially motivated sentence.

rijit

I agree.

[vogie]

I would like to know which judges made this decision, actual names.

Why? Do you think you will know them?

[roamer]

"E" isn't particularly dangerous, addictive or destructive. Most truly civilized countries wouldn't be too concerned with this crime.

You think methamphetamine mixed with caffeine is not particularity dangerous ?

Ecstacy is supposed to mainly comprise MDMA, back in the 70s marketed as the 'love drug', but now often mainly made up of amphetamines.

The 50 year sentence seems extraordinary, especially as he pleaded guilty, was it commuted from a death sentence? Anyone know if it was an importation or drugs acquired locally. Hopefully the guy will get sentence reductions in the coming years. Does HMG arrange repatriation after a certain period to serve time in UK prison?

I saw a TV programme in the UK a few years ago about a guy who had been sentenced to an extraordinary length of time in jail for 20 or 30 ecstasy tablets (25 years?) Maybe if had been heroin or cocaine, he may have been treated more leniently. Or maybe he got the same judge - I don't know.

Anyway, this guy was being interviewed after he had been in jail for a while, and he was quite philosophical about it - he took ther risks, got caught, and was serving his time. He said that the only complaint that he had was that if he had been a US citizen, or French, or any number of nationalities other than British, after 8 years in a Thai jail, he would have been allowed to serve the rest of his time in a a jail in his own country. However, the UK did not (does not?) have such an arrangement in place, so I fear it is down to appeals, and lots of money paid to lawyers, or if he is lucky, a King's Pardon.

there are reciprocal arrangements with Thailand and the UK. Kings pardon also applies.

"Sandra Gregory (born 1965) is a British woman who was imprisoned for four years in Thailand after being caught trying to smuggle heroin out of Bangkok's Don Muang Airport. She was then transferred to a UK prison for three years, before being pardoned by the King of Thailand. Gregory has since earned an Oxford degree and published her memoirs."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Gregory

[GOLDBUGGY]

Got to page 6 of this topic and still nobody had mentioned the fact that, yes he was sentenced to 50 years, BUT that was halved as he pleaded guilty, so only 25 years to serve.

Well No! He got 50 years after pleading guilty. Had he not he may have gotten 99 Years. Without an appeal his sentence remains at 50 years.

[brewsterbudgen]

Imo a racially motivated sentence.

rijit

I agree.

Why?

[lildragon]

50 years? Christ. An example is being made here. Way over the top.

Although dealing in SE Asia you know the risks.

[bigt3116]

A sentence of 10 years in a Thai prison would have been enough to ensure he would never return to the UK, a British guy I knew served five years of a 15 year sentence in Bang Kwang prison, ( the kings birthday pardon got him out early) He was a really big guy who kept himself fit but after only five years in Bang Kwang he looked like a concentration camp survivor.

I doubt very much if he received a pardon, far more likely that he got a Royal Amnesty.

[dageurreotype]

First !! .................. I hate drug dealers !! ...............

You don't smoke or drink then?

[oldsailor35]

First !! .................. I hate drug dealers !! ...............

So do i. But 50 yrs C"mon !

[GOLDBUGGY]

"This young man you call "scum" served and defended his country by joining the armed forces. "

This interests me, because the timeline of his life here and his age give him at most 3 years in the Army, and probably less. I notice that his mum does not display a single picture of him in uniform. Makes me wonder how many weeks/months he served and if the term ex-soldier is just used to sensationalize the story a bit.

I don't know as the story I read about him says he is 27 years old. In Canada you can join at age 18, so I have no idea how you came up with just 3 years or what time line you are referring to. But the news I read about him also said he was an x-British Soldier.

He is 27 now, arrested last year, so maybe 26 then, the story said he had lived on and off in Thailand for the last 5 years, so that makes him 21 at most, so if he joined the British Army, the minimum engagement is 4 years from the age of 18, so the timeline does not add up, (maybe).

I read later that he developed a back injury during training and thus got out of the army before his time. So you would be correct in that it was less than 3 years.

[Jay Sata]

Different countries and different laws as the ex cop locked up in Japan has discovered.

Everyone knows the risk of drug dealing in some Asian countries.

The sentence does however appear severe given some of the low jail time for murder.

I wonder if the Red Bull brat had not run home would he have got a similar term with the same number of pills?

Edited July 1, 2015 by Jay Sata

[oldsailor35]

I have seen a Thai guy selling drugs for the last couple of years on Samui, always on the same patch, but mysteriously he never gets caught.

[Bluespunk]

50 years most be a mild sentence if he had be a Thai city cent there will only be death penalty, but serve 10 - 20 yers in thailand before he can be sent home UK.

Drug delling is the worst crime ever and i can only say rest in peace. He not death yet but nearly the same.

What?

Worse than rape?

Worse than grooming and exploiting children for sex?

Worse than genocide?

Worse than terrorist atrocities the world over?

Do you really believe that?

[GOLDBUGGY]

Please don't call him an ex-soldier - I just found this "Whitmore moved to Thailand five years ago where he found work with Petroleum Oil Services after he discharged himself from the Army following a back injury while training." - He never even completed training ! He is not an ex-soldier, he is a failed recruit.

With a back injury, that makes him an injured recruit and not a failed one.

He still signed up to serve his country. Unforeseen back injury or not!

[Don Mega]

Whether you are against drugs and hate drug dealers is not the problem, the problem is an unheard of 50 year sentence, as Thailand and the present government continue to regress.

This is a sad story.

What about poor old Chamoy Thipyaso who got 141,078 years for fraud.

[GOLDBUGGY]

Death Sentence is the only reply these scum bags understand ...no mercy for these death dealers.......Period !!!

This young man you call "scum" served and defended his country by joining the armed forces. Up until 6 months before his arrest he led a perfectly normal life in paradise. His father owns a bar in Pattaya, where he stayed with him.

He had a Beautiful Thai Fiancee who suddenly died on him then, and in which totally devastated him and turned his life upside down. As his mother stated, he then got mixed up with the wrong crowd, which many young people do sometimes. He made a serious mistake, which many young people do sometimes also, especially when they themselves are on drugs or too much alcohol, and grieving.

I think you have trouble in understanding what a real "Scumbag" is. What a "Scumbag" is, is a person who goes out and rapes, tortures, and murders several children all under 18 years old, to the tune of 11 he confessed to, and more he probably forgot about. All children were both male and female. After he was caught and confessed, and convicted, he refused to tell the parents where he buried there bodies, without first a huge payment from the government for his efforts.

His name is Clifford Olson, He was sentence to Life in Prison in Canada in 1982 for his crimes which is 25 years. He died of Cancer in prison in 2011. He served his time but nobody would let him out as he was a dangerous offended.

Now that "Scumbag" got a sentence of 25 years. Do you honestly mean to tell me with a straight face and not drunk, that this young lad deserves double that for his crime of trying to sell 200 Illegal Pills? Cum On!

He is in Thailand not Canada, and no doubt he has been watched for a while, seeling lots more than 200.This is the norm in Pattaya, and he has lived here,or close for 5 years. The guy had a full time job didnt he, so he came to sell drugs at weekends, in the clubs probably

I was defining what a "Scumbag" is. A real "Scumbag" doesn't have a home because if her did, he would still be a "Scumbag" no matter where he lives.

You should research more. He went home for awhile and only came back in March, or was it April, in 2014. He was arrested with a friend. But since he has been in jail for 10 months, and only here the second time this long, he could not have possibly been watched too long.

[Chicog]

Again: He will do 4 years and then go home. He can apply for a Royal pardon any time, but once in the UK is the best time. With letters saying he's a model prisoner, etc.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Chicog

[boomerangutang]

First !! .................. I hate drug dealers !! ...............

Define drugs. that little image shows a coffee drinker. Is caffeine not a drug? Do you hate yourself? And what about hemp? Listed as a Class 5 drug (same as heroin) by US's DEA, yet hemp never got anyone stoned in the history of the world. Do you hate hemp dealers also?

If you cant do the time dont do the crime.

Anybody dealing drugs is dealing DEATH. scum of the earth.

Alcohol is a drug. Are all the alcohol dealers dealing death also? Are they also scum of the earth? that would include all the top execs in every beer and booze company worldwide, plus private distillers, plus every outlet and nearly every mom & pop shop ww. Also, the truckers, the advertisers, the stadiums with ad banners, TV stations. That's a lot of 'scum of the earth', from your perspective. Then there are pharma drugs - which statistics show kill more people than all illegal drugs combined. Yet more scum, eh Colin?

[oldsailor35]

Lol! If he is 26, white and slim, he will do well in a thai prison.....good the local guys will be crawling to him for a go at this arse!

So you have been there then Nick. Did you enjoy it.

[GOLDBUGGY]

we have all had a bad time in life and that's ok to sell drugs then in your fiction world

Get a life!

Death Sentence is the only reply these scum bags understand ...no mercy for these death dealers.......Period !!!

This young man you call "scum" served and defended his country by joining the armed forces. Up until 6 months before his arrest he led a perfectly normal life in paradise. His father owns a bar in Pattaya, where he stayed with him.

He had a Beautiful Thai Fiancee who suddenly died on him then, and in which totally devastated him and turned his life upside down. As his mother stated, he then got mixed up with the wrong crowd, which many young people do sometimes. He made a serious mistake, which many young people do sometimes also, especially when they themselves are on drugs or too much alcohol, and grieving.

I think you have trouble in understanding what a real "Scumbag" is. What a "Scumbag" is, is a person who goes out and rapes, tortures, and murders several children all under 18 years old, to the tune of 11 he confessed to, and more he probably forgot about. All children were both male and female. After he was caught and confessed, and convicted, he refused to tell the parents where he buried there bodies, without first a huge payment from the government for his efforts.

His name is Clifford Olson, He was sentence to Life in Prison in Canada in 1982 for his crimes which is 25 years. He died of Cancer in prison in 2011. He served his time but nobody would let him out as he was a dangerous offended.

Now that "Scumbag" got a sentence of 25 years. Do you honestly mean to tell me with a straight face and not drunk, that this young lad deserves double that for his crime of trying to sell 200 Illegal Pills? Cum On!

My dad died 3 years ago suddenly after being my dad for 50 odd years, i was devastated, did i go out and start being a drugs seller, no i didnt!!!!!

Nobody here has said he did not commit a crime. He has already pleaded guilty to that. Nobody said it was the right thing to do, as even he has said it was wrong and he is very sorry for now.

But you are at least 53 years old now, and hopefully wiser than you were at 26 years old. Younger people tend to make more mistakes in life. My point was does he deserves to be punished by getting double the sentence of a multi child rapist and murdered? If you can't see that, then I really have nothing else I can say to you.

[wvavin]

The Thai authority cannot keep this guy for too long because he is taking up one blank space for one local.

[Johnny S]

He belong in prison no doubt ... but 50 years is maybe "overkill" - looks like a "Farang-sentence" .... A thai would never do get that ...

[Rumblecat]

I've never understood the idea that adults need protection from their own enjoyment or even their own self-destruction. If someone wants to smoke something that grows out the ground, or inject it into themselves, or swallow a compound of chemicals made in lab somewhere, it's none of my business and shouldn't be anyone else's.

[oldsailor35]

Too bad he wasn't arrested in Malasia. Then the government wouldn't have to feed him for 50 years. 50 years is a bit ridiculous but look at the consequences for the same crime in Malasia.

Money talks there also. Last year three senior Indonesian Anti drug officers were caught entering Malaysia with a suit case full of drugs (probably previously seized) Within a short time the Indonesian authorities had negotiated their release. Any foreigners caught in Indonesia get shot. SE Asia is corrupt to the eyeballs.

Edited July 1, 2015 by oldsailor35

[stramash]

It is an utterly ludicrous sentence and reflects the unjust and archaic laws in this part of the world.

The very fact that he had a relatively low amount of a relatively harmless drug says he should have received a sentence proportionate to the crime.

My only caveat on this whole business is there is no report of the chemical breakdown of the tablets he had. If they were MDMA then they are low harm, less harmful than alcohol, tobacco, meth, heroin, valium etc etc

If however they were PMA or PMMA then we get into dodgy territory. Those are the 2 substances which have been responsible for the upsurge in deaths the last year or two. What these deaths say loudly is that it is time to change drug policy. If low harm substances such as cannabis, lsd and mdma were regulated, then quality would be controlled. This would also represent huge savings in court and jail costs and would stop criminalising young people for 'having fun'. Those released revenues could also be put into better rhab schemes for the drugs that are actually dangerous as well as education for young people. Not that we're going to see that discussion any time soon in Thailand, or even the Uk with the current government who can't even listen to their own experts' advice on classification. But it will come in the west, then gradually, but slowly spread further. The Portugeuese policies have proven that such progressive ideas actually work, and I can see it being widespread throughout Europe in the next decade - with the likely exception of the UK.

This poor sod knew he was running a risk - how much of that stupidity was down to recently losing his fiancee I have no idea - but I'm sure he never expected a ridiculous sentence of 50 years.

Someone said earlier, most crimes are committed under the influence of drugs. Well yes, that's true if you are including alcohol (rightfully) as a drug. Around half of all violent crime in the UK is committed under the influence of alcohol. It's when you get to crimes like theft where addictions like heroin or valium become factors.

Time to change our policies worldwide. Time to be progressive, sensible and listen to the experts.

[brewsterbudgen]

He belong in prison no doubt ... but 50 years is maybe "overkill" - looks like a "Farang-sentence" .... A thai would never do get that ...

So how do you account for the Thai prisoners on Death Row for drugs offences?

[spidermike007]

Too bad he wasn't arrested in Malasia. Then the government wouldn't have to feed him for 50 years. 50 years is a bit ridiculous but look at the consequences for the same crime in Malasia.

Money talks there also. Last year three senior Indonesian Anti drug officers were caught entering Malaysia with a suit case full of drugs (probably previously seized) Within a short time the Indonesian authorities had negotiated their release. Any foreigners caught in Indonesia get shot. SE Asia is corrupt to the eyeballs.

Probably true. But here nearly anyone can be bought and paid for. My guess is there are less than 100 honest judges in all the land and less than half that many honest prosecutors. If anyone knows differently, I would love to hear some stories that convince me the judicial system here is not completely broken. In Malaysia there is some law and order. Here? A tiny, tiny bit, maybe.