EXCLUSIVE: Brit death row gran Lindsay Sandiford could be saved from firing squad on one condition
Lindsay Sandiford, a grandmother from Cheltenham, is facing a fire squad for drug smuggling in Indonesia - but she has now been told may not be executed if she can fulfil one condition
Drugs mule Lindsay Sandiford has been told by Indonesian officials she could be spared the firing squad if she can survive until next year.
Prison officials met the grandmother, 67, in her death row cell at Bali’s hellhole Kerobokan jail this week. It is understood they confirmed new legislation which could reduce Sandiford’s sentence from the death penalty to a jail term.
A prison source said: “All people with a death sentence had a visit from the department that deals with inmates. They were informed the authorities would be implementing the new law. Those with a capital punishment sentence should then have it commuted to a prison term. It means if Lindsay can survive until 2025 she will never be shot.”
Legal secretary Sandiford, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, should qualify as she has managed more than 10 years’ good behaviour behind bars. She has been held since 2012 for trying to smuggle cocaine worth £1.6million into Bali in her suitcase.
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The Mirror revealed the law change, which is due to be adopted in January, last week. Lawyers could then argue that Sandiford should be returned to the UK, where she is likely to go free on the basis of time served. An Indonesian woman jailed for corruption revealed Sandiford gets special treatment.
She said: “She is the grandmother of the prison, the queen. She is the only one who can order steak from the prison cafe. She has it medium-rare, normally once a week. Everyone loves her… she teaches people how to knit, she hosts classes.”
But other cons have claimed Sandiford is “foul-mouthed” and “antagonistic” and drives cellmates away.