BACKPACKERS RELEASED ON BAIL AFTER THAI DOPE-SMUGGLING CHARGES

A young British dental nurse was freed from a notorious Bangkok prison
yesterday after being arrested on drugs charges.

Backpacker Judith Payne, 21, was released from the jail nicknamed the
Bangkok Hilton after spending three weeks in atrocious conditions.

Her companion James Gilligan, 25, who admitted hiding his drugs in her
hotel room, was also released on bail from the nearby Central
Correctional Institute for Drug Addicts.

Yesterday a British embassy official described the relieved pair as
"the luckiest people in the world".

Both paid bail of pounds 5000, sent by their parents in
Yorkshire.

They have been banned from leaving Thailand before their trial which
could last two years and face up to six years in two of the world's
most squalid prisons.

Payne faces jail because she rented the room where the drugs were
found and under Thai law is responsible for all the articles in it.

Gilligan was following the pot-smoking lifestyle played by Leonardo
DiCaprio in the film The Beach when he was arrested in a raid.

He admitted to police he had brought half a kilo of cannabis and five
grams of opium into Payne's guest room.

Payne had met him on the day of her arrest on February 1 and agreed to
let him share her room because he had no money.

Last night Gilligan said: "It was all my fault. I bought the drugs.
But I am willing to stay and face the music."