UK grandmother Lindsay Sandiford in final appeal for help from Indonesia's death row

A British woman due to be executed by firing squad for drug smuggling in Indonesia has written to the Foreign Secretary asking for financial assistance to pursue a final legal appeal.

Lindsay Sandiford, 57, who was convicted of smuggling £1.6 million worth of cocaine from Thailand to Bali in May 2012, fears her sentence could be carried out in a matter of weeks.

The grandmother from Cheltenham said that she had no lawyer and could not afford representation to challenge her conviction or file for clemency, in a letter seen by the BBC.

Indonesia has famously tough laws for drug offences and last week the country’s president, Jodo Widodo rejected appeals for presidential clemency from two Australians sentenced to death, stating there would be “no compromise”.

Last year Ms Sandiford appealed to the Supreme Court to force the Government to fund her legal fees, but this failed.

The senior judges asked the Government to consider providing funding, but the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond dismissed the request.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed that this policy remains unchanged in light of her latest letter: “It is our longstanding policy not to fund legal advice and representation for British nationals overseas.”

In last year's court proceedings the justices urged the Government to “urgently” look at Ms Sandiford's case, as the Indonesian courts had “ignored the substantial mitigating factors”.
Such factors included her age, mental state, previous good character and cooperation. The judges also noted the disparity between her sentence and those of the drug gang she helped to convict.
Ms Sandiford has always claimed that she was forced into drug smuggling because she needed to protect her children.
She said that since being arrested she had received virtually no assistance from the Foreign Office.
But the Foreign Office disputed this and said it had continually offered to provide consular support.
“We are closely following Lindsay Sandiford’s case in Indonesia. We stand ready to support at this difficult time, if it is requested,” a spokeswoman told The Independent.
Following the sentence, passed in January 2013, Hugo Swire, a minister at the Foreign Office, said: “We strongly object to the death penalty.”
Last month Indonesia executed six people for drug offences, including five foreigners as part of a zero-tolerance approach. The president has said he will reject all appeals for clemency for those convicted on drug charges.