'Angel Delight' drug smugglers avoid death penalty in Bali
Minus the time they have already served, it means the trio could be eligible for release by early 2026.Stocker, Collyer and Float could have faced the death penalty – the heaviest punishment for taking part in a drug transaction under Indonesian law.Collyer and Stocker were caught with 17 packages of cocaine, with a value of roughly £300,000.The BBC's US partner CBS previously quoted the AFP news agency as saying Balinese authorities believe the cocaine was hidden in packets of Angel Delight, a powdered dessert mixture.Indonesia hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling and has previously executed foreigners, but it has upheld a temporary halt on the death sentence since 2017.Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto's administration previously moved to repatriate several high-profile inmates, all sentenced for drug offences, back to their home countries.
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Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Parents of trans teenager who killed himself sue 'slow and casual' police who failed to find him in time
The parents of a trans teenager who took his own life while on the NHS gender clinic waiting list are suing the 'slow and casual' police force who failed to find him in time. Jason Pulman, 15, was tragically found dead in a park in Eastbourne, East Sussex, in April 2022, having struggled with mental health problems as well as his gender identity. Described as a 'cheeky fun ball of energy', the talented artist was born as Jessica into a family who were frequently relocated by social services in order to try and keep them safe from his violent convict birth father. Last April, an inquest jury found that the youngster's emotional and mental needs were 'inadequately assessed and provided for' by multiple services, and that police 'responded inadequately' to him going missing. Now, Jason's mother Emily Pulman and stepfather Mark Pulman, are taking High Court legal action against Sussex Police over an alleged breach of human rights. Around 10 hours passed between the time that Jason was first reported missing to the force and when an officer visited the family home. Mr and Mrs Pulman have claimed that Sussex Police 'failed properly or at all to protect Jason against the risk of suicide' after he was graded only a 'medium risk'. They also believe that there could have been a 'real prospect of a different outcome' had there been a 'reasonable response' to Jason's disappearance. The devastated pair added that the force is 'flip-flopping' over its position and whether it has learned from Jason's death. Speaking about the 'devastating' inquest and legal battle that has succeeded her son's tragic death, Mrs Pulman, 39, has now urged the force to 'actually take accountability for what has happened and what went wrong'. She added: said: 'I think about Jason and how much he used to fight for things he believed in. He used to go to protests and research and get involved in different things because he wanted to make change.' 'I want to try and get some change for kids like Jason, as I know that that is what he would want as well. 'When I feel like quitting, I have got Jason's cheeky little head in my head, with his outfit, with all his badges on, saying 'you must fight for what you believe', and that is what gives me strength.' While Jason began identifying as a male aged around 14, he never received specialist gender dysphoria treatment due to assessment delays. His parents claim that their son received 'insufficient' mental health support. In the morning of April 19 2022, Mrs Pulman discovered her son was missing from his bed at the family home in East Sussex and immediately called the police. At the time, she informed a call handler that Jason was transgender, had previously self-harmed and attempted to take his own life, adding that he may also have taken public transport. The call handler graded Jason as medium-risk, however an officer did not look at the case for more than three hours after the first call. Mrs Pulman then made two further calls to the police, telling them that Jason had informed a friend he was travelling to London, most likely by train. But Jason remained graded as medium-risk. The British Transport Police (BTP) were not notified, and an officer did not attend the family's home for almost 10 hours after the first call. Around an hour after police visited the house, Jason was tragically found dead in nearby Hampden Park by a member of the public. Nick Armstrong KC, for both Mr and Mrs Pulman, said police knew or should have known that Jason 'represented a real and immediate risk of life-threatening harm', but instead their response was 'slow, and strikingly casual'. In a prevention of future deaths report last year, a coroner said Jason died 'potentially through his mental health and gender identity issues', and that it was 'also possible Jason may have been prevented from committing suicide' if the BTP was made aware that he was missing. In the run-up to his death, Jason was regularly self-harming and abusing drink and drugs, Mrs Pulman previously told Hasting Coroners Court. By early 2022, Jason's worsening behaviour, including shoplifting and being excluded from school for cannabis, meant the family knew he needed more significant psychiatric help. 'He needed more than just a conversation on the phone', Mrs Pulman told Assistant Coroner Michael Spencer in her witness statement. The family 'were done trying to get help from CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services)' and Jason himself thought it was 'pointless'. 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Reuters
13 hours ago
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Greek port workers jailed pending trial on drug smuggling charges
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The Independent
14 hours ago
- The Independent
Judge stays execution to evaluate if Alabama inmate is competent
A state judge has stayed an upcoming execution in Alabama to evaluate whether the man is too mentally ill to be put to death. The judge temporarily stayed the Aug. 21 execution of David Lee Roberts until it can be established whether he has a 'rational understanding' of what is to happen to him. 'Or similarly put, the issue is whether the petitioner's concept of reality is so impaired that he cannot grasp the execution's meaning and the purpose or the link between his crime and its punishment,' Marion County Circuit Judge Talmage Lee Carter wrote in the July 10 order. Carter said the execution will be on hold until a report from the Alabama Department of Mental Health is finished. It is not immediately clear how long that will take. Roberts was convicted of killing Annetra Jones in 1992 by shooting her in the head. His execution was scheduled to be carried out by nitrogen gas, a method Alabama began using last year. Attorneys representing Roberts argue that his death sentence should be suspended due to severe illness. Roberts has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis, hears voices and is delusional, they said in a court filing. He also recently attempted to burn tattoos off his arm and leg because he believed they 'are trying to control his thoughts,' his lawyers said. 'This evidence demonstrates Mr. Roberts is incompetent to be executed because his delusions prevent him from having a factual or rational understanding of the reason,' they said. The Alabama attorney general's office is not appealing the stay. The state asked that the competency evaluation by expedited. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot execute prisoners who are insane and do not understand their impending execution and the reasons for it. However state law does not provide a clear standard on what courts must find in determining someone's competency to be executed. In 1992, Roberts, now 59, was a houseguest at Jones' boyfriend's home in Marion County. Prosecutors said that on the afternoon of April 22, he came to the home, packed his belongings, stole money and shot Jones three times in the head with a .22 caliber rifle while she slept on the couch. He then set the house on fire after dousing Jones' body and the floor with a flammable liquid, prosecutors said. Jurors convicted Roberts of capital murder and voted 7-5 to recommend that he receive life in prison without parole. A judge overrode that and sentenced him to death. Alabama no longer allows judges to override jury sentences in capital cases.
