Bali death penalty grandmother Lindsay Sandiford loses High Court battle over appeal funding (From The Northern Echo)

Bali death penalty grandmother Lindsay Sandiford loses High Court battle over appeal funding

5:10pm Thursday 31st January 2013 in News By Matt Westcott

TEESSIDE grandmother Lindsay Sandiford lost a High Court battle today over a UK Government refusal to fund her appeal against a death sentence imposed by an Indonesian court after she was found guilty of drug smuggling.

Two judges in London refused to declare unlawful a Foreign and Commonwealth Office refusal to pay for an adequate lawyer to represent Sandiford, 56, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Mrs Justice Gloster, sitting with Mrs Justice Nicola Davies, said the court understood the deep concerns of Mrs Sandiford and her family about Mrs Sandiford's predicament, but her case must be dismissed for reasons to be given on Monday next week.

Sandiford, originally from Redcar, was given the death penalty by a court in Bali last week for taking 10.6lb of cocaine on to the island.

The sentence would see her shot by a firing squad.

She was accused by the court of damaging the image of Bali and received the sentence despite prosecutors asking only for a 15-year jail term.

The High Court was told that a notice of appeal was filed with Indonesian officials earlier this week and she was given a 14-day deadline to file grounds of appeal.

Aidan O'Neill QC said Sandiford was urgently in need of funding because she is without legal assistance and her family have exhausted all of their available resources.

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