Lindsay Sandiford was today pictured for the first time in a decade as she left her hell-hole Bali jail in a wheelchair(Image: AP)

Death row gran Lindsay Sandiford seen for first time in DECADE as she leaves jail

Pensioner Lindsay Sandiford - given the death penalty in 2013 for smuggling 1.6m of cocaine into Indonesia - left her cell today for the 8,000-mile journey home to Britain

by · The Mirror

Frail drug mule gran Lindsay Sandiford today tasted freedom for the first time in a decade as she left her hell-hole Bali jail in a wheelchair.

The pensioner - given the death penalty in 2013 for smuggling 1.6m of cocaine into Indonesia - was today freed to begin the long 8,000-mile journey home to Britain. Pictures show grey-haired Sandiford, 69, looking unkempt and wearing a face mask after leaving Bali's notorious Kerobokan jail and preparing to board a flight home.

The Mirror revealed Sandiford is due to take her UK-funded £600 seat which leaves at just after midnight Indonesian time. She will embark on a 20-hour journey back to London Heathrow, with a short layover. She is said to be "desperate" to get home to her family and access the medical care she needs after the UK Government secured her release.

Sandiford was wheeled away from Kerobokan prison covering her face as she made her way to the airport( Image: MADE NAGI/EPA/Shutterstock)

A source said: "Doctors have assessed Lindsay and determined she's very unwell. She has spent 12 years in one of the worst prisons in the world and that has taken its toll on her. She's desperate to get home, she's been preparing for months. Before leaving prison she said a farewell to the other prisoners who have become like family to her."

Sandiford was sentenced to death in 2013 despite claiming a UK-based drug syndicate forced her to smuggle the drugs from Thailand. She has spent 13 years in Bali's notorious Kerobokan prison, where unsanitary conditions, overcrowding and humidity make life extremely harsh.

But last month a bilateral agreement was struck between Indonesia and the UK Government to secure her release, with officials confirming she is "seriously ill". Sources in Indonesia say Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made a personal plea to the Indonesian authorities for Sandiford's return. An insider said: "Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper both submitted a request to the Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto for Sandiford to be transferred back to the UK.

Lindsay Sandiford - sentenced to death in 2013 for smuggling £1.6m of cocaine into Bali - is due to be freed and return to the UK( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

"It marks the end of a harrowing time for Sandiford who has been desperate to come home. It's also a significant step in international relations with Indonesia. Officials struck the deal on the basis that the UK Government would also be obliged to listen to applications for the repatriation of any Indonesian prisoners currently serving sentences in the UK."

Indonesia's senior law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra revealed Sandiford was "seriously ill". Yusril said Sandiford has been "examined by our doctor, as well as by the doctor from the British consulate in Bali, and is seriously ill". She will be transferred back to the UK, alongside Shahab Shahabadi, a 35-year-old serving a life sentence for drug offences after his arrest in 2014.

"We agreed to grant the transfers of the prisoners to the UK. The agreement has been signed," Yusril said in the capital Jakarta. He was seen signing an agreement with the British Ambassador to Indonesia Dominic Jermey as news of the transfer was announced.

Sandiford - pictured after she was handed the death penalty in 2013 - is being released from Kerobokan prison after living under the threat of death for more than a decade( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Sandiford was sentenced to death in Bali in January 2013 for drug trafficking after she was found with 4.7kg of cocaine in the inner lining of her suitcase as she tried to leave Denpasar Airport. Sandiford had no previous convictions but was handed a death sentence after claiming a UK-based drug syndicate forced her to smuggle cocaine from Thailand to Bali.

Sandiford has spent the past 12 years on death row in Bali's notorious Kerobokan prison after she was caught with £1.6m cocaine( Image: AFP/Getty Images)

She told a Bali court the crime gang threatened to kill one of her two sons in Britain if she refused to cooperate. An FCDO spokesperson said: “We are supporting two British Nationals detained in Indonesia and are in close contact with the Indonesian authorities to discuss their return to the UK.”