Lifestyle

British Mum Facing Death Penalty in Bali as Shocking Cocaine Smuggling Trial Begins

Published on July 16, 2025

A British mum is due in court in Bali today after being accused of trying to smuggle £300,000 worth of cocaine into Indonesia, hidden inside packets of Angel Delight. Lisa Stocker, 39, from East Sussex, is facing the possibility of the death penalty if convicted, along with her partner Jon Collyer, also 39, and Phineas Float, 31, who are said to be involved in the same case.

The trio’s situation is drawing grim comparisons to another Brit, Lindsay Sandiford, who has been stuck on death row in Bali for more than a decade after being caught with £1.6 million worth of cocaine in 2012, reported Bristol Live. Her case has become one of the most haunting examples of how brutally Indonesia punishes drug trafficking.

Indonesian law doesn’t mess around when it comes to drugs — the punishment for trafficking is almost always the death penalty, usually carried out by firing squad. Prisoners are led to a field and given the option to sit or stand before armed soldiers take aim at their hearts. If they survive, the commander finishes the job with a single shot to the head.

The country hasn’t carried out many executions in recent years, but the threat looms large. The last took place in 2015, and according to the Mirror, there are currently around 130 people on death row, including Sandiford.

Sandiford, a former legal secretary from Redcar, was arrested in 2012 after landing in Bali from Thailand. Authorities found cocaine hidden in her suitcase, and she later claimed she’d been forced into smuggling by a gang who threatened her family. At first, she denied everything, but later admitted she had been roped in by antiques dealer Julian Ponder and agreed to help in a sting operation to catch him and two others — Rachel Dougall and Paul Beales.

All four were arrested, though only Sandiford and Ponder were charged with trafficking. Dougall and Beales faced lesser charges — Dougall got a year for not reporting a crime, while Beales was sentenced to four years for hashish possession. Ponder escaped the smuggling charge but got six years for narcotics possession.

Despite the prosecution requesting just a 15-year sentence for Sandiford, the judges gave her a death sentence in January 2013. She tried to appeal but couldn’t afford legal representation. A fundraiser managed to send an Indonesian lawyer to Bali, but her appeal was rejected. Even her final bid to overturn the decision at the Supreme Court failed.

Since then, she’s remained locked up in Bali’s notoriously overcrowded Kerobokan Prison, designed for 300 inmates but now holding over 1,400. Violence, riots, and poor conditions are part of daily life. Sandiford keeps herself busy knitting and even teaches others, but the emotional toll is deepening.

Fellow inmate Heather Mack, jailed for killing her mum, says Sandiford has become withdrawn, rarely leaving her cell and snapping at others. Lindsay reportedly shared with Mack that she’s accepted her fate and doesn’t want her family there when it happens.

Despite everything, she’s found peace in her own way. “If you want to shoot me, shoot me. Get on with it,” she said. “No one gets out alive.”

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