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

[Cabra]

“I just don’t know how he will cope with this sentence. It is the worst possible news.”.........

Now !!!!!! spare a thought for the Mothers...Fathers....Brothers and Sisters who receive News that a Loved one has Died because of Scum Drug Dealers like this......................... "THING"

[luckyman]

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

Okay, I am biting and here is one for you :

'Donot commit the crime, if you can't do the time!'

High enough for you ?

Edited July 1, 2015 by luckyman

[petey123]

an opportunity to thank the americans' ridiculous "war on drugs" - which, after 30 plus years has accomplished little else but filling prisons with

non-violent offenders. stop making laws which limit individual freedom and responsibility.

[rethaier]

If you cant do the time dont do the crime.

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

That's a bit harsh. Marijuana has never killed anybody so do you put a marijuana dealer in the same category?

[shirtless]

Yes he did commit a crime but 50 years is severe , this is not a major offence. thats twice what you would get for murder.

[mommysboy]

“I just don’t know how he will cope with this sentence. It is the worst possible news.”.........

Now !!!!!! spare a thought for the Mothers...Fathers....Brothers and Sisters who receive News that a Loved one has Died because of Scum Drug Dealers like this......................... "THING"

They weren't force fed the tabs. While we're at we'll spare athought for the loved ones killed by some drug crazed nut!

Your black and white tv got ditched a long time ago, sounds like you need to play catch up.

[sitti]

You what they say. Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time. We all know that penalties for drug offenses in SEA are harsh, a lot harsher than western nations. In some countries, drugs will get you automatic death penalty. He chose to do it in Thailand. And he didn't mind about how much his ecstasy he was selling could ruin the lives of others and their families. Well, At least he should be grateful he didn't get a death penalty.

[LivinLOS]

If you cant do the time dont do the crime.

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

what nonsense.. E's kill FAR less people than alcohol even factoring in rates of use.

[NoshowJones]

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....

I think he deserves all he got, drug dealers are responsible for many deaths and misery, and are among the scum of the earth.

[Sviss Geez]

The thing with crime, and this includes drug dealing, is that nobody ever expects to get caught.

No matter what, this is excessive punishment. I don't know how long he will actually spend in jail, I suspect he could get transferred to a UK jail within 5 years, but the punishment here does not fit the crime.

British guys in Thai jails have a harder time than many other nationalities as they get no support from the UK government. There are charities that can help, but basically he will need to depend on help from friends and family outside for even basics like food and basic medicine etc.

Much as I dislike drug dealing, I feel sorry for this guy.

"...he will need to depend on help from friends and family outside for even basics like food and basic medicine etc."

Absolute nonsense, basic food is provided to all prisoners 3 times a day and Klong Prem has a hospital service for prisoners in addition to basis medicines.

"British guys in Thai jails have a harder time than many other nationalities as they get no support from the UK government."

Which foreign governments do you misguidedly think give tangible support to their nationals in Thai prisons? US, German, Iranian, Nigerian, Swedish, South African, Philippine, Indonesian, to name a few, certainly don't. The UK is not an exception.

[Ocicat]

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.

[AYJAYDEE]

If you cant do the time dont do the crime.

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

does that include bartenders?

[AYJAYDEE]

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....

I think he deserves all he got, drug dealers are responsible for many deaths and misery, and are among the scum of the earth.

bartenders too?

[AYJAYDEE]

an opportunity to thank the americans' ridiculous "war on drugs" - which, after 30 plus years has accomplished little else but filling prisons with

non-violent offenders. stop making laws which limit individual freedom and responsibility.

Are you saying NO violence is related to drugs or use of........?

alcohol

[Calimotty]

The Thais that committed attempted murder in Chiangmai last week got $250 baht fine, yet this guy gets 50 years? My wife's cousin got busted for a similar amount in Bangkok and was out in 4 years.

And other ex Brit Army druggies are deported to the UK change their name,acquire a new Passport and return to Pattaya covertly to continue the drug crazed life style. Isn't that correct Mr Jimmy?

[Baerboxer]

If you cant do the time dont do the crime.

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

So you think alcohol vendors or bottle shop owners should get death as well. Since alcohol kills nore people then drugs

Alcohol is a drug. And to some very addictive. My late father worked in the brewing, pub, night club businesses for many years. Used to go out with him some evenings. He could spot the ones working in the trade who had or would have problems with this. Alcohol can be a very dangerous drug. Depressing the central nervous system affects co-ordination, judgement, timing, muscle control, vision, etc. As with any drug people react differently - some can and do turn violent.

Alcohol kills more people because it's massively more available and affordable. Which drugs are more dangerous than others would be a different argument.

Whilst not condoning drug dealers this particular sentence looks ridiculously way over the top. Especially when compared to some of the sentences given to hiso's for causing death by accident or even intention.

[Toknarok]

Professor David Nutt one time Chairman of the UK's Drug Advisory Board said that taking ecstasy 'no more dangerous than horse riding'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/4537874/Ecstasy-no-more-dangerous-than-h

Edited July 1, 2015 by Toknarok

[jackanapes]

why they have to put former british soldier down just beggars belief he is just another English man caught with drugs I bet hes not in ecstasy now what a clown 50 years is a long time the thais don't get that sort of punishment it should be the same for everyone punishment fits the crime thais and foreigners alike.

[AYJAYDEE]

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

Wrong. 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine aka ecstasy aka MDMA is a potent chemical. However, let's put that aside. I want you and those who agree with you to give me an honest answer to this scenario;

A retailer distributes a pharmaceutical product that is advertised as a specific product. The retailer cannot guarantee the product quality because the retailer purchased the product from a wholesaler who may have purchased from a distributor who purchased from a manufacturer or sourced from another distributor. Nowhere in the supply chain is there any record of quality control. The manufacturing process does not follow even the most basic minimum standards of pharmaceutical manufacturing. Many of the product components are unknown or are contaminated with heavy metals, fungus, mold and various other unknown substances. Some purchasers of the product can in turn re-sell it or give it as gifts to others, including minors.

The usual response to a retailer behaving in the aforementioned manner, is to shut the retailer down and bring the full force of the law down on the retailer for unsafe retail practices. Would you defend the retailer's activity and permit it to continue? I would not. No sane rational person would.

How then is a trafficker of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine any different than the retailer selling toxic unsafe products?

like homemade beer and wine?

[Sviss Geez]

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!

When you clearly have no idea of what goes on in Thai prisons why do you make idiotic remarks such as that?

[Pattaya28]

200 pills 50 years disproportunate

[fitnesspm]

Most crimes are done when people are on drugs. I remember going to court years ago where every crime was done cause he/she was on some kind of drug.

It's good that Thailand isn't soft like the west and still have the dead penalty. Why the hell does the tax payers have to pay for a life sentence is a totally joke!

[northernphil]

If the sentence was 5 years I would of said like many others 'If you can't do the time............' But 50 years , how many crimes warrent that ? Just doesn't bare thinking about , going in at 26 and coming out at 76. The best years of your life in the BKK Hilton. Or should that be the worse years of your life in the BKK H.

[optad]

Agree he will be out sooner. Indeed, any appeal will apportion a more appropriate term for 50 pills and a guilty plea.

But ..., I would love to hear the reasoning in the judgment for the 50 farcical years. It is impossible to reconcile.

Why bother reducing the veracity of the courts with such an impractical term?

[todlad]

Low life who probably thought he was being really clever

50 years is not long enough for people like this.

[NoshowJones]

The thing with crime, and this includes drug dealing, is that nobody ever expects to get caught.

No matter what, this is excessive punishment. I don't know how long he will actually spend in jail, I suspect he could get transferred to a UK jail within 5 years, but the punishment here does not fit the crime.

British guys in Thai jails have a harder time than many other nationalities as they get no support from the UK government. There are charities that can help, but basically he will need to depend on help from friends and family outside for even basics like food and basic medicine etc.

Much as I dislike drug dealing, I feel sorry for this guy.

Would you still feel sorry for him if any of your family died because they were using drugs supplied by a dealer?

If there was no drug dealers, almost every type of crime would be reduced.

and AJAYDEE, you cannot say that bartenders can be compared with drug dealers, alcohol is not a drug if drunk in moderation.

[borisloosebrain]

50 years !! I feel sorry for his mum. To the poster before who obviously doesn't know his facts, dealing E isn't ' dealing in death' , far from it but it's a pretty dumb move in Thailand given the laws and the arbitrary way they are applied.

Edited July 1, 2015 by borisloosebrain

[pjmansions]

Like it or love it, those are the rules they are well publicized and everyone coming to Thailand knows perfectly well the penalties for drug supplying are severe, funding his time in Thailand selling drugs is not smartest career move but I do not have any sympathy for him, I do think 50 years I severe but those are the chances you take when you make dangerous lifestyle choices.

[dave_boo]

I don't give a damn if he's English, Thai, or whatever nationality ... he screwed up in a country well known to be very harsh on drugs related crimes... no surprise, no sympathy, no empathy. Is

Is that what Jesus would say?

Render unto Caesar that which is Caersar's.

[Yunla]

Some smokers like my Aunt isabel have smoked heavily for fifty years, last week she was deemed healthy enough to undergo surgery on a kidney. Many people also drink alcohol casually and live to be very old.

This year there have been a lot of cases of young healthy people dying from taking disco pills, often the new concentrated tablets or tablets that contained high levels of more harmful drugs. And unlike long-time smokers and long-time casual drinkers, these kids died very young and sometimes on their first pill.

There were stories of multiple ecstasy deaths in the USA this year, and stories like this one in the UK also this year;

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/02/fourth-death-linked-superman-ecstasy

It is true that the media made a huge deal over the 1980s/1990s E-deaths, and a lot of it was poorly reported. But this year there has been a genuine upturn in deaths and illness relating to concentrated and adulterated disco pills. Since dealers don't always know what is in the pills they sell, they are potentially selling pills that kill, such as in those recent cases.

The whole legal right/wrong issue is not relevant really, Asia has a lot of conservative and traditional views, and the criminal sentencing often reflects those views. Visitors should be thinking about the existing national laws in countries they travel to, and not the abstract perfect world scenario or the behaviour in enclosed subcultures at certain resorts.