A successful British woman now faces 20 years inside a 'hellhole' prison in Thailand after she visited to contact a client.
Rachel Stallard, who works as a private estates consultant, hails from Bournemouth but headed over to the South-East Asian country to collect money from a client after a long business deal. However, when she arrived she was taken by authorities and detained in a basic prison for four nights – left with no food or water, according to Rachel.
Rachel had a small dispute with her client, which led to her being arrested and charged with "seven of the most serious charges there are in Thailand." She took to the professional social media platform, LinkedIn, to share her traumatic experience.
The estates company had been working with a client in Thailand, who had used their services to the value of £30,000 before they ghosted their emails and calls. When she arrived, Rachel visited the client, and described him as "irritated" at being approached despite being a "millionaire."
Rachel said she was then thrown in a Thai prison cell with no food or water and was forced to bribe a police guard to give her scraps. She contacted a colleague in Bangkok who brought her water, chicken burgers, wet wipes and mosquito spray while she tried to get through to the UK Embassy.
"I sat in that jail cell for days, not knowing the time of day, imagining what my life was about to become and it was terrifying," she wrote in her post.
"[The authorities] were useless, even though they knew the charges were totally fake. In fact on the 3rd call the lady who answered hung up once I told her my name." She claimed she has already been found guilty of two of the seven charges, before even giving a statement.
"I had to call my 80 yr old mum and explain I was probably going to prison for 20 years, and to tell my daughter as I only had the one call," she said. As for the financial side, Rachel was forced to fork out £14,000 on her bail, £24,000 in legal fees and is awaiting her trial in six to eight years.
The consultant has also spent £70,000 to be able to go back home. She claims to be "broke and in debt," trying to rebuild her life.
"All because a client who has millions didn't want to pay his staff wages or my fees," Rachel concluded.
A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesperson told the Mail: "We supported a British woman who was arrested in Thailand and were in contact with the local authorities."
Brit woman '''begging for scraps''' in Thai cell faces 20 years in jail on '''false charges''' - Daily Star