THANKS MUM

SANDRA GREGORY STUNNED AS CAMPAIGN WINS RELEASE FROM 25-YEAR HEROIN TERM

HEROIN smuggler Sandra Gregory walked free from jail 18 years early
yesterday - after a surprise pardon from the King of Thailand.

Her mother Doreen, who was credited with winning her daughter's freedom by
campaigning, travelled south from her Scots home to meet her at the gates of
the English prison where she has been held.

Former teacher Gregory, 35, was in tears as she emerged into the sunshine
for an emotional reunion with her mother.

Doreen has campaigned tirelessly for the release of Gregory who was caught
with three ounces of heroin at Bangkok airport in 1993 and endured hell in
Thai jails before she was transferred to Cookham Wood prison in Rochester,
Kent.

She was sentenced to 25 years in prison after escaping the death penalty but
tasted freedom at just before 2.30pm yesterday.

Last night the Foreign Office said that although they had not made any
official approaches to the Thai authorities about Gregory, they had made
them aware of the strength of feeling about her case in this country.

Her family praised public support for their campaign and letters pleading
for mercy after media pictures of her desperate life in Thai jail cells.

Doreen received the shock news of her daughter's release in an FO call to
her home in Pitcaple, Abderdeenshire, on Thursday and then phoned Sandra in
the prison.

Yesterday, looking stunned but healthy, Sandra said: I think more than
anybody I would like to thank my parents for everything they have done. They
have been great."

She went on: "It is absolutely marvellous. I was not expecting it at all and
am humbled by it."

She said she now wanted to work as a drugs counsellor but her first pleasure
outside jail was to enjoy a long walk then an emotional visit to her dying
89-year-old grandfather.

She said: "I have been smiling for 24 hours but it's hard to make plans.

"There are things I would like to do but my choices are limited. I cannot
travel abroad and going for a job now will be a problem.

"I cannot go back to teaching because I have a criminal record. I would like
to do something with drug rehabilitation, there is a big demand for it. Most
girls in prison have a drug problem."

Gregory said she accepted responsibility for what she did, adding: "I was
guilty of breaking the law in Thailand and I take full responsibility for
what I have done. I still think Thailand is a marvellous country."

She said: "I have learned an awful lot in the past seven and a half years.
It has given me empathy with other people."

Gregory was caught with heroin in swallowed condoms. She was held in custody
for nearly three years before pleading guilty in 1996 but insisted that the
drugs belonged to her then boyfriend Robert Locke, who was later acquitted
of drugs charges and allowed to return home to England.

She went to the notorious Klong Prem jail, known as the Bangkok Hilton.

Her sentence was later cut by three years and she was transferred to the UK
as a mercy gesture.

Yesterday, as she carried her daughter's bag to a taxi, Doreen Gregory, 62,
could only say: "This is wonderful."

Speaking at their Pitcaple home, Sandra's father, Stan, described the FO
call about the release. He said: "The first reaction was one of stunned
silence while we tried to digest the information."

And he added their daughter burst into "howls of delight" when they called
to tell her the news.

He said: "We had to take the telephone away from our ears, the shrieks of
delight were so loud.

"Words didn't come out - it was just howls of delight. And shortly after the
phone was handed back to the prison governor she told us that Sandra was
still leaping around the room."

He said that the support his daughter received in the UK - and efforts by
their Lib Dem MP Malcolm Bruce - had contributed to the Thai decision to
commute the sentence.

But he stressed: "Neither she or we have ever tried to condone what she did.

"The punishment was quite right, it was the length of sentence that has
always been the issue."

The release was yesterday being viewed in diplomatic circles in Bangkok as a
victory for quiet diplomacy - despite persistent UK government refusals to
back pleas for clemency.

Mr Gregory attacked the UK government for long refusing to back pleas for
mercy which were supported by churches.

He said: "We're so grateful to the public for supporting Sandra - thousands
of letters showed the mood of the country which the Foreign Office
eventually had to recognise."

An FO spokesman said: "We did not support her application for a royal pardon
because we only support it on compelling or compassionate grounds, for
example when a member of the family is ill."

But John Blakemore was sent to the jail gates to pass Gregory a message of
congratulations from Baroness Patricia Scotland, the minister for consulate
matters.

It said: "Good luck, congratulations and all the best for the future."

He said the Foreign Office had been shocked at how soon the release came
after the news came from Thailand.