Sandiford plea over Bali death penalty funding

A Redcar grandmother, who faces the death penalty in Bali, sees her fight over legal fees reach the UK's highest court. The challenge is against the Government's refusal to pay for her legal representation.

Supreme Court justices in London are being asked to rule in an appeal by Lindsay Sandiford, who was convicted of trafficking drugs into Bali, on whether a policy not to provide legal funding to those facing capital charges abroad is lawful. She has previously lost High Court and Court of Appeal challenges against the policy.

In April last year, three appeal judges in London ruled the UK Government's policy of not providing funding for legal representation to any British national who faces criminal proceedings abroad, even in death penalty cases, was not unlawful.

That decision will be looked at by five Supreme Court justices in London.

The Court of Appeal's decision followed an earlier High Court ruling that the Government was not legally obliged to pay for "an adequate lawyer" to represent Ms Sandiford, who was sentenced to death by firing squad. She had been found with cocaine worth an estimated £1.6 million in May 2012.

Appeal judges heard last year she needed around £8,000 for her legal fight against the death sentence. She received donations covering that amount.

Lindsay Sandiford claimed she was forced to transport the drugs to protect her children. She was sentenced to death in January 2013 by judges of the District Court of Denpasar in Bali. She appealed against convictionand sentence but her case was rejected by the High Court of Denpasar. Last August, the Indonesian Supreme Court in Jakarta also rejected her appeal. She is currently waiting to apply for clemency.