. . . as father of British public schoolboy facing 24 lashes in Singapore for drug trafficking begs for mercy

THE parents of a former public schoolboy facing a flogging and 20 years’ jail in Singapore have pleaded for the sentence to be overturned on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

In a highly emotional interview with The Mail on Sunday, the father of London-born Ye Ming Yuen, 29, claimed his son suffered a ‘mental breakdown’ prior to his arrest, adding: ‘The court must therefore find Ming not guilty by diminished responsibility.’

Ming, a former pupil at £37,000-ayear Westminster School, has been sentenced to 24 strokes of the cane for ‘repeat trafficking’.

His father Alex Yuen, 70, said: ‘I think he turned to drugs because he was put under lots of pressure at private school.

‘It was very competitive and they pushed the students a lot. I think he felt pressured so instead he went with the wrong crowd. He did many HARD LINE FAR EAST things because he wanted acceptance. Instead of realising his talents, being recognised and accepted for what he could achieve, he became a slave to pleasing other people and that’s why he did the things he did.’

However he added that his son’s use of drugs did not begin until long after he had left the school.

Last night, Mr Yuen spoke of his fears that his son might be violently assaulted in Changi prison.

‘ If you asked me, would I be surprised if I received a message tomorrow, next month, that he has been found stabbed in prison, I would say of course not. It is surprising that he hasn’t been,’ he said. And the former top club DJ’s mother Melina Yuen added tearfully: ‘We didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye properly. There is no family support and he is so far away.

‘He puts on a very brave face but, as his mother, he speaks to me and I know how he feels. ‘He is very worried.’ ‘Singapore refused me entry so I was not able to see my son out there i n prison,’ s ai d hi s f at her, a businessman. ‘He’s a really nice guy but he’s a fool.

‘The reason he got this monster sentence was because the prosecution tried to make out that he was unremorseful and had no respect for law.

‘Both Ming and I know that he committed an offence. He just can’t understand how he got such a long sentence.’ Ming has been convicted of several drug offences, including one of trafficking 69g of cannabis and another of 60g.

He originally faced the death penalty but the capital charge was dropped because the net weight of drugs involved was below 500g.

His punishment will be inflicted by a ‘trained caner’ taught how to cause the most pain possible.

Ming will be stripped naked and strapped to a large wooden trestle, then his buttocks will be flogged 24 times with a 4ft-long rattan cane.

The case has triggered a diplomatic rift between the UK and Singapore, which has some of the toughest drugs laws in the world. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his officials made clear they ‘strongly oppose the use of corporal punishment’.

The Foreign Office said it has been ‘assisting a British man and his family since his arrest in Singapore in 2016’.