SAMANTHA OROBATOR, the pregnant British woman who was jailed for life in Laos for smuggling heroin, was flying back to London last night to give birth to her child in a British jail.
The 20-year-old from Peckham, south London, whose mother lives in Dublin, was handed over to British officials yesterday in the Lao capital Vientiane and boarded a flight to London following an agreement between the UK foreign office and the Laos government.
Orobator faced a death sentence after being caught with 680g of heroin at the capital’s airport last August. She was spared a firing squad after becoming pregnant while in the women-only wing of Phonthong prison, in circumstances that remain unexplained. Her child is due next month.
Orobator was allowed to transfer to Britain after foreign office minister Chris Bryant travelled to Laos last week and signed a “memorandum of understanding”. A second British prisoner, John Watson (47) remains in custody in the country. Reports have suggested he smuggled his sperm to Orobator to make her pregnant and save her life.
Mr Bryant said he was concerned for Watson’s health. Watson was transferred from Phonthong prison some time ago, a foreign office spokeswoman said, but “the Lao authorities have not given us information as to where he is being held”.
British officials have received assurances that he will also be transferred into British custody “in the very near future”. Watson was arrested in 2003 and is serving life for trafficking amphetamines. – (Guardian service)