BRITON FACING DEATH SENTENCE IN MALAYSIA

A British psychiatric nurse who once gained a government scholarship for
his work with young drug abusers was preparing to face the death sentence
last night if found guilty of smuggling heroin by a Malaysian court.

David Chell, 56, of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, who suffers from asthma,
eczema and a minor heart complaint, said last night that he was "hoping for
the best but prepared for the worst". He has consistently pleaded his
innocence since he was arrested in October 1998 at Penang airport. The case
against him has been dogged by inconsistencies, with the key witness
changing his story several times and the unexplained disappearance of a
vital document.

Police allege they found Mr Chell carrying just under 190g of heroin
crammed into 133 condoms in a bumbag under his trousers. He claims they set
him up as he headed for a flight to Perth, Australia, via Singapore after a
holiday on the small island of Penang, off the west coast Malaysia.

It would indeed be a foolish man who tried to carry such a large amount of
drugs through airport security in Malaysia and Singapore, the only two
countries in South-East Asia with mandatory death sentences for drug
smuggling. "And supposedly here is a graduate with knowledge of Asia who
chooses to do that?" said Mr Chell from prison over the weekend. "You don't
need more than two neurons to see that's a real suicide run."

During his trial Mr Chell's lawyer Karpal Singh, one of Malaysia's
top-ranking attorneys who is also defending the former deputy prime
minister Anwar Ibrahim, asked the judge to dismiss the case, saying it it
was clouded with "perjury, destruction of evidence and cover-up".

The main witness for the prosecution, Lance Corporal Nithiyanathan, changed
details in his evidence three times under cross-examination. Having first
said in a police statement that Mr Chell handed him the drugs, he then
testified that he had retrieved the drugs himself while searching the
accused. Similarly, he first stated he had searched Mr Chell "acting on a
tip-off", then said he had acted by chance.

Things became more farcical when L/Cpl Nithiyanathan told the court he had
recorded the incident in a police log book. When the log was produced, the
crucial page had been torn out. He then said a female colleague had made
the entry, but in the end a third officer said she had filled in the book.

All in all, the inconsistencies seemed glaring enough to point to an
acquittal. "These contradictions are material and fundamental," Mr Singh
told the court. "My client should be freed." Despite Mr Singh's protests,
Judge Zaleha Zahari said she viewed the flaws in the prosecution's case as
acceptable and the trial continued, without a jury, standard for Malaysian
capital offences.

The arresting officer claimed he frisked Mr Chell and then took him to a
private room to search him in front of two narcotics officers.

But Mr Chell says he was left alone in the room until the lance corporal
returned with the narcotics officers who then produced the drug-filled
condoms from beneath a pillow. No fingerprint evidence linking Mr Chell to
the condoms has ever been produced.

Why Mr Chell should have been set up is something no one seems able to
explain. Mr Chell says he knows but cannot say until after the verdict.

Friends in England are adamant that Mr Chell could not be guilty of the
crime of which he is accused. Sarah Shaw, an arts manager who lives in
London and has known Mr Chell all her life, described him as a "very kind
man" who has spent his life trying to help people.

According to a website set up by his friends, David Chell won a scholarship
to study sociology and history at Keele University following his work on
drug abuse with young people.