British woman who dodged death sentence for drugs in Thailand is arrested after going back

Sandra Gregory, the Briton jailed in Thailand in the 1990s for drug smuggling, has been deported after trying to enter the country. She was pardoned by the King of Thailand in 2000 after initially being sentenced to death in 1993.

The 44-year-old, of West Yorkshire, had texted friends to say she was refused entry to Thailand, despite having a valid visa. It is understood the Thai authorities have put her on a plane to Qatar.



Gregory, of Sowerby Bridge, was caught with 86.9g of heroin inside a condom in her body at Bangkok airport in 1993. The initial death sentence was commuted to 25 years imprisonment after she admitted the charge.

She spent four-and-a-half years in the notorious Klong Prem Prison - nicknamed the Bangkok Hilton - where she had been held in a room with 80 other women, before being transferred to a jail in Kent. After receiving the royal pardon, she went on to gain a 2:1 honours degree in geography from Oxford University. Friends said Gregory had gone back to Thailand to "tie up loose ends.