Everything we know about British grandmother who's spent 12 years on death row as she’s issued major update
A British grandmother, who has spent 12 years on death row in Indonesia, is set to return home to the UK.
Lindsay Sandiford, 69, has spent over a decade in jail after she was found with roughly 11lb of cocaine in the lining of her suitcase back in May 2012.
The value of the drugs was said to be around £1.6 million.
At the time, Sandiford claimed that she was forced to smuggle the drugs by a criminal gang, as they allegedly threatened to kill her son. But in January 2013, she was found guilty and handed a death sentence in the Southeast Asian country.
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In a recent update to Sandiford's case, the British gran has been granted freedom and will soon return to the UK.
Here's everything we know so far about the case and its most recent developments.
Who is British gran, Lindsay Sandiford?
Sandiford is a mother-of-two and former legal secretary from Redcar, who was given the death sentence in Indonesia back in 2013.
According to the Mirror, Sandiford had relocated to India back in 2012 after leaving her rental home in Cheltenham.
She was arrested after she arrived in Bali from Bangkok, Thailand with a large amount of cocaine.
Why was she on death row?
Sandiford was arrested in Bali on 19 May, 2012, with airport authorities finding a pricey package of cocaine stashed within her luggage.
The grandmother says she was forced to carry the drugs by a criminal gang who had threatened her sons. She later said she had been asked to transport the drugs by an antique dealer and his partner.
Her legal team argued that she had been forced into transporting the cocaine and that she was struggling with mental health problems at the time. However, her appeals were dismissed and on 22 January 2013, she was handed the death sentence by firing squad.
Speaking to the court during her trial, the grandmother expressed her regret.
She said: "I would like to begin by apologising to the Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesian people for my involvement. I would never have become involved in something like this but the lives of my children were in danger and I felt I had to protect them."
Sandiford has been in Kerobokan Prison, in Bali, ever since her trial. Kerobokan prison is a high-security facility designed to house fewer than 400 inmates, but the actual number of prisoners there is said to be closer to 1,000.
Sandiford ended up earning the nickname ‘grandmother’ at the prison and is said to have taught some of her fellow inmates how to knit.
What was Sandiford's final wish?
One inmate previously spoke of Sandiford's final wish.
Heather Mack, who was serving 10 years for murdering her mother, got to know Sandiford during her time there and claimed that she was withdrawn and struggling with prison life.
Mack said: "She spends all day pretty much alone in her cell and doesn't mix so much with the other prisoners."
According to her, Sandiford has one wish: "She has said she wants to die."
The grandmother apparently 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."
In 2015, it seemed as if her time in prison was nearing an end, as she penned a heartbreaking statement to the Mail on Sunday.
She wrote: "My execution is imminent, and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell."
What's the latest update?
After 12 years on death row, Sandiford will now return to the UK.
While a change in Indonesia's laws gave her hope that she would be released earlier this summer, in the end it was an agreement between the two governments which saw her repatriated.
An Indonesian government source said: “The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the transfer is agreed.”
Sandiford is being released alongside British citizen Shahab Shahabadi.
Topics: Crime, UK News, World News, Drugs
Lucy Devine