Thread: Briton Neil Hartley Recounts His Living Hell in a Thai Jail

PATTAYA – Neil Hartley' a British National who was held in a Thai prison for three years, after admitting offenses linked to a pharmaceuticals website selling Viagra and steroids.

Hartley, 61, was arrested in November 2011 at a beer bar complex in central Pattaya.

He claims a Thai lawyer told him if he pleaded guilty he would be fined – but instead he was thrown in jail for three years.

He was advised to admit purchase, concealment and distribution of illegal narcotics, import-export violations, pharmaceutical-license offenses and working without a work permit.

Mr Hartley, who was sent home to Heysham on a flight to Manchester last Saturday, said: “There is so much corruption over there.

“I went to Thailand to work with a friend, who was running a website exporting pharmaceuticals all over the world. He had been running it for six years. I only helped with e-mails and orders. I was a scapegoat. The Thai police visited the man who ran the website and demanded thousands of pounds. When he did not pay them, they arrested me two weeks later, while he was out of the country."

“I was on remand for a month, then went to Pattaya Court, and the judge jailed me. There was nothing I could do, I was in chains and leg irons. The British Embassy did not help me.”

Reliving the moment he was sent to prison he said: “It was all men and ladyboys. I was thrown in a van with around 60 prisoners. The guards would hit people with sticks if they said anything. They are animals.When I arrived at the prison, Nong Palai, my cell was 10 yards by five yards, with 85 criminals inside, including murderers. There were around 1,500 people in the prison.
It had bars at either end and a concrete floor where we had to sleep. If you wanted bedding you had to pay for it.

There were two British men in when I arrived; they had stolen whiskey from a supermarket. Within a week one was dead, beaten to death.”

Neil added: “The ladyboys were kept separately from us. They made a tent out of sheets and would sell sex to the prisoners at weekends so they had money to buy cigarettes. When my mum sent me money I bought 15 blankets to stitch together to make a makeshift bed, and paid for better food – although it wasn’t much better than what we were getting. I lived on tinned sardines but at least you knew they weren’t contaminated, otherwise you got a chicken’s foot, or cold rice. They threw us out of our cells from 7am. There was just a yard to go in. I saw a Thai man stabbed with a sharpened iron bar." At 4pm, Mr Hartley says he and the other prisoners were put back in their humid, stinking cells. He said: “You had to pay for a bed space with cigarettes. There was a hole in the floor for a toilet – shared by all of us.”

One doctor visited the prison twice a month, but Neil was unable to get medication at first without a passport as it had been seized.

He said: “I thought about ending my life, but just got on with it.”

Mr Hartley, who formerly worked at Pines Lakes leisure complex near Carnforth, took up the ‘job’ in Thailand when he was made redundant from Pontins. He is virtually blind in one eye, with untreated cataracts in the other. His tearful 90-year-old mother, who lives in a static caravan in Heysham, said: “He’s the only thing I have in the world – and I’m the only thing he has in the world. “This last three years has been terrible. He says the bed I have given him was paradise compared to what he is used to. When I first saw him I walked past him twice, I did not recognize him. He is seven stone.”

His friend Peter Rowley, who used to work with him in Carnforth, picked him up from the airport after Thai authorities set him back to Britain on his release. He said: “People need to be told about the corruption over there, it is unbelievable.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are aware of the arrest of a British national
on November 4, 2011, in Pattaya, Thailand and provided consular assistance.”

Briton Neil Hartley Recants His Living Hell in a Thai Jail | Chiang Rai Times English Language Newspaper

Originally Posted by misskit

Briton Neil Hartley Recants

Maybe recounts?...

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Originally Posted by misskit

Briton Neil Hartley Recants

Maybe recounts?...

It is all over the web...RECANTS...

Originally Posted by misskit

The British Embassy did not help me.”

Why should they.

got to feel sorry for the fool.

made redundant from Pontins.

virtually blind in one eye, with untreated cataracts in the other.

90-year-old mother, who lives in a static caravan in Heysham,

I only helped with e-mails and orders. I was a scapegoat

chains, beatings, fish heads, etc.etc.etc.

this mans story reminds me of the cream song, "born under a bad sign", which could have been written specially for him, the lyrics include the lines

......."Born under a bad sign, I've been down since I began to crawl, If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all. Bad luck and trouble's my only friend,
I've been down ever since I was ten."...

screwed by his "friend", screwed by a shyster thai "lawyer" who didnt give him good advice , cast to the lions by the british embassy, this losers tale should be a warning to a lot of weak characters here who exist just under the radar, but have no connections, no money and no nothing and are often picked on by the authorities for the silliest of reasons.

on looking at his face, one instinctively knows that this naive, luckless and rather foolish man has spent most of his life on a treadmill of pain, and is unlikely to ever get off.

reminds me of "trigger" from only fools and horses.

lost a few pounds since 2011

Brit nailed for drug trafficking | Pattaya today newspaper

Jeeepers.

I was wondering about a before and after shot. cheers.

Originally Posted by misskit

Hartley, 61,

He looks 75.

^^ Heysham can do that to a man.

What a shame. And innocent at that.

Originally Posted by flyfisher davis

It is all over the web...RECANTS

One would think he's Galileo...

Originally Posted by taxexile

has spent most of his life on a treadmill of pain

Maybe he lived in Sisyphus...

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Originally Posted by taxexile

has spent most of his life on a treadmill of pain

Maybe he lived in Sisyphus...

No . The story says the sissies and phussies were kept in a separate area.

I did not recognize him. He is seven stone.”

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Two million eligible for gastric bands... and if they all had the operation, the bill would be £12billion!

• The health watchdog NICE is telling doctors to suggest the operations to all patients above a given weight with type 2 diabetes
• The move comes as the NHS struggles to meet targets for what many would regard as more urgent operations

Two million eligible for gastric bands | Daily Mail Online

Joking aside he looks like a concentration camp victim. A big thank you to the British Embassy for all the support provided.

I started off with nuthin', and I got plenty of stuff left ... (apologies to Seasick Steve)

Originally Posted by spliff

What a shame. And innocent at that.

Urm,

No he was not, he was pissing around with Illegal pharmaceuticals and got busted.

Same old story innit, wanna get involved in games over here you must pay the man when busted. Easy as that.

Regards his weight loss, I'd say its quite a bonus, being a fat bastard ain't going to be good for you.

Bet he don't stay lean for long though.

Originally Posted by Begbie

Joking aside he looks like a concentration camp victim. A big thank you to the British Embassy for all the support provided.

Without getting in to an argument. What are they supposed to do other than see that the legal process has been followed. I can't see what else they could do other than send an armada.

He was advised to admit purchase, concealment and distribution of illegal narcotics, import-export violations, pharmaceutical-license offenses and working without a work permit.

“I went to Thailand to work with a friend, who was running a website exporting pharmaceuticals all over the world. He had been running it for six years. I only helped with e-mails and orders.

Sounds like he was guilty as charged, what's he whining about?

It also states in the original charges that he was selling steroids and other banned substances on the streets of Thailand .

^

I have zero sympathy for farang that do doggy shit in Thailand and then get banged up.

Whatever happens to them once banged up I simply have no Sympathy. Jesus, everybody knows about the Bangkok Hilton right.

I love the part where the punter cries about the Corruption in Thailand yet he was being Corrupt him self by doing dodgy shit.

Fuk me EH, Cry me a river bitch.

when is the book being released?

Originally Posted by terry57

he was pissing around with Illegal pharmaceuticals and got busted.

I'd have a bit more sympathy if he could at least be honest now...but it sounds as if he can't even be honest with himself...

"I went to Thailand to work with a friend, who was running a website exporting pharmaceuticals all over the world. He had been running it for six years. I only helped with e-mails and orders. I was a scapegoat."

So in other words he 'only' took the money and made sure the shit reached the customer.

Stoopid move...cause and effect.

Originally Posted by terry57

Originally Posted by spliff

What a shame. And innocent at that.

Urm,

No he was not, he was pissing around with Illegal pharmaceuticals and got busted.

Same old story innit, wanna get involved in games over here you must pay the man when busted. Easy as that.

Regards his weight loss, I'd say its quite a bonus, being a fat bastard ain't going to be good for you.

Bet he don't stay lean for long though.

Why are you folk so simplistic? Is it a lack of intelligence? Or perhaps you think,,still, there is a rule of law in Thailand. There isn't. It's a farce and means of extortion, especially against farang. They were doing nothing more illegal than any Thai has been. The police moved in for a bung but got a patsy without a pot to piss in. He got hung out to dry. The entire country is littered with illegal viagara sellers,,whether it is on the streets or in druggists. Christ, a fucking huge boiler room operation stealing millions of dollars has been operating blatantly in Thailand for 10 years. Where" s your sanctimonious claptrap there?

The guy was screwed. The offences if applied to Thai would have seen a suspended sentence at worst.

Get real, fah Chrissakes.

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Why are you folk so simplistic? Is it a lack of intelligence? .

Sorry guv. Poor genes maybe, or lack of iodine. Who knows eh guv? Bit o' luck wese got youse eh guv?