LUCKY ESCAPE

A pregnant Briton jailed for life in Laos for heroin smuggling is due to arrive back in the UK later.

Samantha Orobator, 20, from Peckham, south London, was caught with 1.5lb (680g) of the drug at Wattay airport in the capital, Vientiane, last August.

She escaped the death penalty because she became pregnant in jail and will now complete her sentence in the UK.

Orobator was handed to UK officials by the Lao authorities on Thursday in what they said was a "humanitarian gesture".

Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant said: "We do not condone any crimes involving illegal drugs. We work around the world to combat the use of illegal drugs."

However he added the transfer was "excellent news", saying: "[It] means that Samantha will give birth in the UK, close to her relatives and under UK medical care.

"This is clearly the best outcome for all - not least her unborn child."

'Artificial insemination'

He also said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was continuing to work for the early transfer of John Watson, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who is also imprisoned in Laos for drug smuggling.

Watson, 47, was identified as the father of Orobator's baby in a statement read out on her behalf by the local prosecutor.

Her statement said she had artificially inseminated herself while in prison using Watson's semen. Her baby is due next month.

Orobator's mother, Jane, said on Thursday: "I just want her to come back to the UK, that is my first desire. One step at a time, I just want her to have her baby here."

Orobator admitted trying to smuggle the heroin through Wattay airport in an effort to take it to Australia.

A Laos Foreign Ministry spokesman said Orobator's return to the UK was a humanitarian gesture that took into account her pregnancy.

She's lucky she wasn't executed.

the next drug courier they catch might not be so lucky, even if the person's passport is made of diamond.

the next drug courier they catch might not be so lucky, even if the person's passport is made of diamond.

exactly. It is a shame. Most of these couriers are paid peanuts
Imagine getting executed for £3000 -

tpia.:

the next drug courier they catch might not be so lucky, even if the person's passport is made of diamond.

I hope every drug courier should learn a lesson from this.

If she did not get herself pregnant by a prison guard she would have been hung as well

unfortunaltely this might give some fools the idea to continue doing their evil deeds believing that they can escape death.

Thor:

If she did not get herself pregnant by a prison guard she would have been hung as well

she didnt get pregnant by a Guard but by another inmate. the baby dada is supposedly also a british guy on death row for drug smuggling. what a bloody coincidence!!!!

Drug baron so that babe is Nigerian