'Embassy error' led to heroin jailing

Lawyers acting for a Briton jailed for heroin smuggling in Thailand are calling for his release amid allegations that an official seconded to the Foreign Office wrongly informed his trial judge the man was wanted for drug trafficking in the UK. John Davies's defence team argue the information influenced the judge and led him to return a guilty verdict.

Davies, who has always maintained his innocence, has been in prison in Thailand since 1990. He was sentenced to death in 1994 after police alleged a large quantity of heroin was found in a suitcase in his car in which he travelled to a business meeting. Davies claims he was fitted up by a con man working with police and was promised that if he paid a bribe to officials he would be released.

His subsequent trial alarmed human rights groups, who claim it was littered with more than 150 false statements and fabrications. The police refused to obey an order by the judge to hand over crucial CCTV footage which Davies's lawyers claim would have shown irrefutable proof of his innocence. It was later shown that the suitcase in which the police alleged the drugs were contained was not the one found in Davies's car.

Davies's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1996. Two former Foreign Secretaries, Robin Cook and Jack Straw, wrote to the Thai authorities calling for his release on the grounds he had already served a lengthy sentence.

According to Davies's lawyer in Thailand, Seri Bundhitthai, it has emerged that a letter sent on British Embassy notepaper to the trial judge falsely claimed the arrest was the result of a joint operation involving Thai and British police. It also stated there were outstanding warrants for Davies's arrest in the UK where he was wanted for questioning in relation to smuggling 140kg of heroin. None of the claims was true, according to Davies's defence team.

The existence of the letter and other documents that could have influenced the judge came to light only after Davies hired the lawyer to plead for his release. Under Thai law, the lawyer was given access to the judge's private files, which were never disclosed.

Davies, who nearly died while in prison after a series of strokes, would have been freed by now if he had pleaded guilty. He has never seen his four grandchildren. He could be released in May, when he completes his sentence, but wants to clear his name beforehand.

'John has been failed on every count by his own government,' said Sabine Zanker, a lawyer with Fair Trials Abroad, which has campaigned for Davies's release.

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