FREED drug smugglers Karyn Smith and Patricia Cahill were home in
Britain last night, relishing their freedom and the company of their
families after three years in a Thai jail.
However, there was controversy over the prospect of the convicted
heroin traffickers being paid handsomely for their story. Sums of up to
#100,000 have been mentioned.
The Press Complaints Commission warned newspapers yesterday that any
such payments would unquestionably breach its code of practice --
namely, that convicted criminals should not be paid for their
revelations.
Mr Stephen Jakobi, solicitor for Karyn Smith, 22, said there was no
reason why she should not make money from her disclosures because, he
said, she was entirely innocent.
When the Prime Minister wrote to the Thai authorities on their behalf
-- a move widely credited with sparking their release -- he did not
question their convictions but asked for mercy on humanitarian grounds.
The King of Thailand then granted them a pardon. Smith, from Solihull,
West Midlands, had been jailed for 25 years in Bangkok after she and
Cahill were caught with heroin worth #4m in July 1990. Cahill, 20, from
Birmingham, was jailed for 18 years and nine months.
Two other Britons now on heroin smuggling charges in Thailand could
face far tougher treatment, however.
Mr Robert Lock, 29, from Cambridge, and Miss Sandra Gregory, 27, from
Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, who have been in custody since February,
yesterday heard their cases had been adjourned until September.
Smith and Cahill -- who enjoyed a champagne flight home -- were met by
West Midlands Police when they arrived at Heathrow airport and
questioned briefly about what they know about the drugs trade.
They will be questioned later at length in an attempt to find the man
they claim duped them into trying to smuggle the heroin.
A police spokeswoman said: ''They have agreed to speak to detectives
at a later date but will meet their families and be given a chance to
adjust themselves to life back in Britain before any interview.''
Smith and Cahill also face charges in connection with an alleged
shoplifting offence -- involving the theft of three Dictaphones -- at
Birmingham in June 1990.
The two women had a tearful and joyous reunion with their families.
Smith met her parents in the airport's VIP lounge after they had flown
in from Thailand on a later flight, having missed her in Bangkok by just
one hour.
They then left for a secret destination in London.
Cahill and her overjoyed parents were driven away -- also to a secret
location -- with representatives from a Sunday newspaper.
Before that, both praised Mr Major's intervention. Smith told Sky
News: ''He has helped us -- we are really grateful.''
Cahill also praised the King of Thailand, saying: ''He showed
compassion and mercy. I'm 20, I'm at the stage where I want to start my
life afresh.
''He's given me that opportunity. I mean, I'm not a bad person, I just
made a mistake.''
She said she was treated reasonably by the Thai authorities.
''If you show respect to them, they will respect you. I have learned
my lesson. It was a hard lesson to learn.''
Smith described her tears when she saw the ''beautiful'' sun rise for
the first time in three years after her totally unexpected release. In
prison, she did not even see the stars, she said.
Speaking exclusively to the Birmingham Evening Mail, which paid for
her parents' flight to Bangkok, she said: ''What I now want most of all
is take it easy for a while, try to relax and straighten myself out.
''What I would like most of all is to stay with my family for a few
days,''
The Evening Mail said readers had jammed its switchboard protesting
about their release.
Insisting it had paid no money to the family, it said it had met the
cost of the parents' trip to Bangkok and would do the same for ''any
innocent Midland parents in similar circumstances''.
Mr Jakobi, defending Smith's right to make money from her story, said
she was not interested in a deal at present.
He also insisted she was entirely innocent and could see no reason why
she should not capitalise on her three-year jail ordeal.
''I do think it's justified for her to sell her story because she
shouldn't have been there. If she should have been there I would accept
the PCC ruling, because I think it's totally unjustifiable that guilty
people should be
allowed to profit from their crimes,'' he said.
''If the Government, to avoid embarrassment, is not willing to admit a
human rights victim was a human rights victim, why can't the human
rights victim be taken as innocent and be allowed to sell their story?''
PCC chairman Lord MacGregor, pointing out that the Prime Minister in
his plea to the Thai authorities in February did not dispute the
convictions, said: ''In the comission's view, article 9 of the code of
practice will therefore apply. The code states:
''Payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures, or information
should not be made directly or through agents to witnesses or potential
witnesses in current or criminal proceedings or to people engaged in
crime or to their associates -- which includes family, friends,
neighbours, and colleagues -- except where the material concerned ought
to be published in the public interest and the payment is necessary for
this to be done.''
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