British grandmother who has spent 12 years awaiting execution on death row had one major criticism of UK government

A British grandmother who is awaiting death row execution in Bali issued one major complaint about the UK government.

Lindsay Sandiford was arrested for trying to smuggle a suitcase containing 4.8kg of cocaine into Bali from Bangkok in 2012.

The former legal secretary, from Teesside in North Yorkshire, was in possession of an estimated £1.6 million worth of the drugs and was sentenced to death by firing squad a year later.

Now aged 68, the mother-of-two has spent the last 12 years or so behind bars at the Kerobokan Prison in Bali.

Christie Buckingham - a pastor from Northern Ireland - was providing support to Sandiford, previously stating that 'killing someone is never right'.

In a radio interview, according to a 2015 upload on the Bayside Church Melbourne YouTube channel, she said 'the biggest stress for Lindsay' is that 'the British government have refused point-blank to help secure a competent Indonesian lawyer that can prepare what is known as a PK (prison kill)'.

Buckingham explained: "This is exceptionally distressing to her and to her family. And to be honest with you, it is very, very hard in the abolitionist field, we can't really understand why a judicial review, which would have cost millions of pounds, just decided that she was an extraordinary case and should be funded."

Lindsay Sandiford has been an inmate in Kerobokan Prison, Bali, for over a decade (SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images)

She added that 'it's very distressing and very confusing'.

In 2013, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that the government does not fund legal representation for British nationals.

A spokesperson said: "We strongly object to the death penalty and continue to provide consular assistance to Lindsay and her family during this difficult time. It was through consular staff's efforts in Indonesia that we were able to identify a lawyer who is prepared to assist Lindsay Sandiford with her appeal on a pro bono basis (although he requires costs of approximately £2,500 in order to travel to Bali in order to assist)."

She is awaiting death row execution in Bali (SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images

Back in 2019, Sandiford told British journalists that death 'won’t be a hard thing for me to face any more'.

"It’s not particularly a death I would choose but then again I wouldn’t choose dying in agony from cancer either. I do feel I can cope with it," she said.

"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.

"Dying doesn’t bother me. I never thought I’d last this long to be honest.

"What I am uncomfortable about is the public humiliation. You’re dragged halfway around the country and paraded in front of the press before being executed and that will be the worst thing for me.

"My attitude is, ‘If you want to shoot me, shoot me. Get on with it’.

"I’ve done a terrible thing, I know, but the worst thing is the ritual public humiliation they seem to enjoy."