Lindsay Sandiford Gran on death row gets official support
GRAN Lindsay Sandiford is said to still be receiving UK consular support. A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson told Teesside Live this week that they were in contact with the grandmother.
He said: “We are in contact with Ms Sandiford, and are providing consular assistance.
“The Indonesian Government is well aware that the UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances and in every country as a matter of principle.”
This information comes after it was revealed in 2019 that she had abandoned her legal battle to avoid her execution.
She reportedly said she didn’t want to deal with another lawyer after being “burnt enough times”, and didn’t want any more Foreign Office help.
The punishment for drug smuggling in Indonesia is often the death sentence and many are sent to the firing squad. Sandiford is now 64 having spent more than eight years on death row in Bali.
She was given the death sentence in January 2013 after being caught with 10lb of cocaine on a flight from Bangkok to Bali.
At the time, she said she was carrying the drugs to protect her son, who she said was being threatened.
She once lived in Hester’s Way and Warden Hill, and was previously reported to be running knitting classes to keep her mind occupied as she teaches other inmates her craft skills.
Sandiford is a former legal secretary who worked for many years in management at the Cheltenham-based law firm DTS Legal but is now locked up in the infamous Kerobokan jail - known locally as Hotel K.
According to reports, Lindsay shares a cramped cell measuring 16ft by 16ft with four other women prisoners and spends her days knitting clothes and toys.
She keeps photos of her granddaughters next to her bed in her cell, and has expressed regret that she cannot be a full-time grandmother.