DRUG PRISONERS ARRIVE BACK IN AUST

SYDNEY (AAP) -- Two Australian women jailed in Thailand for heroin
smuggling flew into Sydney this morning under a prison transfer scheme.
Jane Dawson McKenzie, 38, and Deborah Letitia Spinner, 36, were sentenced
to 50 years in a Thai prison in 1997 after being caught trying to smuggle
115 grams of heroin to Australia from Bangkok.

The women arrived at Sydney Airport on the 6.25am (AEDT) Qantas flight from
Bangkok via London. A Corrective Services spokesman said both women would
complete normal immigration and customs procedures in a secure location at
the airport before being transferred to Mullawa women's prison.

The women were escorted from Thailand by four prison officers and a number
of flight marshals. McKenzie and Spinner will serve five years in the
Sydney jail before being eligible for parole, after having spent seven
years in Bangkok's notorious Klong Prem women's prison.

When convicted in 1997, the women faced the death penalty but their
sentences were commuted to 50 years' jail when they pleaded guilty.

Both have said the most difficult part of their jail terms had been the
separation from their children. Just last month, Spinner said she had not
been able to sleep some nights because she longed to see her two children,
whom she had not seen for eight years.

The women were caught with Sydney man Lyle Doniger at Bangkok Airport in
March 1996, trying to board a flight to Sydney with heroin filled condoms
in their bodies. Doniger was freed two years ago after being pardoned by
the Thai king.

The women's return to Australia, announced a fortnight ago by NSW Justice
Minister John Hatzistergos, came under a new international prisoner
transfer scheme.