A British grandmother drug mule who spent more than a decade on death row in Indonesia, has been pictured being wheeled out of prison as she prepares to fly home today after being spared the firing squad.
With her face buried in her hand, Lindsay Sandiford, 69, was seen at a handover ceremony at Kerobokan Prison in Bali.
She left prison and was transferred to the airport, law and human rights ministry official I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram told AFP.
Sandiford, who was convicted of smuggling £1.6million worth of cocaine into Bali, is expected to board a UK-funded flight today after 13 years in prison.
Her ticket reportedly cost £600, and she is due to arrive at London Heathrow following a 20-hour journey.
Officials say Sandiford, a former legal secretary, is seriously unwell, with sources adding that she was desperate to reunite with her family in Britain.
A source told Mirror: ‘More than a decade in one of the world’s worst prisons has taken its toll on her and she wants nothing more than to get back to the UK.’
Sandiford left the notorious prison this afternoon with another British inmate, 35-year-old Shabab Shahabadi, who was serving a life sentence for drug offences. Officials also noted that Shahabadi was ill.
The pair were driven to Denpasar International Airport, where they were expected to be handed over to British Ambassador Dominic Jeremy before boarding their flight.
The repatriation comes after Indonesia’s senior law and human rights minister, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, signed a deal with British foreign minister Yvette Cooper last month for the transfer of Sandiford and Shahabadi.
After more than a decade on death row in a prison in Bali, Indonesia, Lindsay Sandiford has been released
The grandmother was seen in a wheelchair after she was released from prison. She is expected to fly to Britain today
Lindsay Sandiford kept her face buried in her hands during a handover ceremony at Kerobokan Prison in Bali
Lindsay Sandiford in a holding cell after being sentenced to death in 2013. Lat month, it was announced that Indonesia would sign a deal to repatriate her and another British inmate
Sources in Jakarta say prime minister Keir Starmer and home secretary Yvette Cooper personally appealed for her return.
It is believed that Foreign Office representatives had been working on the case for over 18 months, visiting her regularly in prison as her condition became worse.
Sandiford, originally from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, moved to India in 2012 after losing her home.
That same year, she was arrested in Bali after arriving from Bangkok with a suitcase containing cocaine.
She initially claimed she had been forced into smuggling the drugs by a UK-based gang that threatened her family.
However, she later recanted her story, admitting she had agreed to carry the drugs for a British antiques dealer.
Her legal team told the court that she had been forced to peddle the drugs and that she was suffering from mental health conditions.
They also claimed that a drug syndicate had threatened to kill her son if she did not carry the narcotics.
Sentenced to death in 2013, she has since endured years inside Kerobokan Prison, where overcrowding, poor sanitation and extreme humidity made life unbearable.
It has been reported that both Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper personally appealed for her release
Sandiford’s release follows a deal negotiated between Indonesia and the UK government last month after long-running diplomatic talks
Lindsay Sandiford being driven out of Kerobokan prison after being spared Indonesia’s brutal firing squad
Sandiford knitting in her cell on death row at the notorious Kerobokan Prison, where she is set to be relased from, this afternoon
Her case sparked a huge interest in the United Kingdom, with Mail on Sunday publishing an article written by her about being sentenced to death. I have started to write goodbye letters to members of my family.’
She also said she would sing the Perry Como hit ‘Magic Moments’ while facing the firing squad.
She wrote: ‘My execution is imminent, and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell.
While incarcerated, she is said to have led knitting classes for fellow inmates and even knitted clothes for her grandchildren back in Britain.
Her friends later said she had fallen into a state of depression while waiting to find out when she was due to be killed.
In 2019, she told Daily Mail that she had decided not to push for a last ditch appeal.
Explaining her reason, she said: ‘I really cannot face asking anyone for help or having to deal with another lawyer. I just can’t face it. I’ve been burnt enough times.
‘I’ve had ten different lawyers. If I actually turned my mind to the legal process I would get angry and bitter and it would be destructive.’
When asked if she feared her proposed death by firing squad, she said: ‘It won’t be a hard thing for me to face anymore. It’s not particularly a death I would choose but then again I wouldn’t choose dying in agony from cancer either.
Sandiford at her trial in 2013. In an interview with Daily Mail, she spoke about how she constantly thought about being executed by firing squad
She was sentenced to death in 2013 and was forced to bear horrendous prison conditions, including overcrowding and poor sanitation
She was on death row at the Kerobokan Women’s Prison, where she awaited news of her execution
‘I do feel I can cope with it. But when it happens I don’t want my family to come. I don’t want any fuss at all. The one thing certain about life is no one gets out alive.’
She also said that although she constantly thought about execution, she felt ‘blessed’ that her sons had become men and that she had ‘two beautiful grandchildren’.
Indonesia’s firing squad usually consists of twelve soldiers who shoot at a convicted criminal from a long range of five to ten metres. Each soldier is instructed to aim for the heart.
It has been reported that only three fire live bullets while the others fire blanks.
Sandiford’s return to Britain marks the end of one of the longest-running and most publicised drug smuggling cases involving a British national abroad.
News of her return comes after pregnant 19-year-old Bella Culley arrived in the UK this week after she was freed from a Georgian prison following a conviction for drug offences.
