British Grandmother’s Shocking Final Wish Ignites New Hope After 12 Years on Death Row

Imagine being locked away in a cramped little cell on the tropical paradise of Bali, not for a weekend getaway gone wrong, but for over a decade—waiting on the edge of hope and despair. That’s the reality for Lindsay Sandiford, a British grandmother once caught smuggling over a million pounds in cocaine, now sentenced to death by firing squad. Stranded in the notorious Kerobokan prison, she’s swapped knitting lessons behind bars for a heavy dose of depression, grappling with a haunting “final wish” that’s as chilling as it is heartbreaking. But just when you think the story couldn’t get any more twisted, news emerges of possible reprieve thanks to changes in Indonesian law. Can redemption—or at least release—be knitted together from such a tangled past? Well, the plot thickens… LEARN MORE.

A British grandmother has ‘sunk into a depression’ while she hopes for release from a ‘hell-hole’ prison in Bali, where she has remained for over a decade.

Lindsay Sandiford was locked up following a drug-smuggling arrest back in 2012, and was sentenced to death by firing squad on the Indonesian island.

The now-69-year-old was caught at the airport smuggling £1.6 million of cocaine into Bali from Bangkok, Thailand, and has spent more than a decade in cramped conditions at the notorious Kerobokan prison on death row.

Now, a former acquaintance of Sandiford has revealed the horrifying ‘final’ wish of the grandmother-of-two, who reportedly spends her time behind bars teaching other inmates how to knit.

Heather Mack served a 10-year sentence for the murder of her mother and met Sandiford while behind bars, saying in 2019: “She spends all day pretty much alone in her cell and doesn’t mix so much with the other prisoners.”

The American then claimed that Sandiford’s final wish is for her to ‘die’.

Grandmother-of-two Lindsay Sandiford has been on death row in Bali for more than a decade (SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images)

The grandmother allegedly said of her death: “It won’t be a hard thing for me to face anymore. I might not have chosen this kind of end, but then again, dying in agony from cancer isn’t exactly appealing either.

“I do feel I can cope with it. But when it happens, I don’t want my family to come. I don’t want any fuss at all. The one thing certain about life is no one gets out alive.”

Her wish came before there was recently renewed hope of release, thanks to a change in legislation in the country.

Sandiford, who was once a legal secretary, has been seen giving away her belongings, as she is so convinced that she will be released soon.

The Myanmar Accountability Project has reported that capital punishment may be changed to a life prison term if the prisoner shows a ‘commendable attitude and actions’.

It is said that Sandiford has displayed good behaviour while in prison, and has served more than a decade behind bars.

A source said to The Mirror: “She’s given away all her clothes and things she had because she was expecting to be released already. But it’s understood she will be released in a few months, along with other Westerners.

She has been behind bars at the notoriously cramped Kerobokan prison since 2013 (SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images)

“The new Indonesian president has, among his many changes, said he wants to reduce the numbers in jail. Local people are being released, then overseas people are to be looked at. Already the Australian drug group known as the Bali Nine are back in Australia.”

The ‘hell-hole’ prison is seriously overcrowded, with ITV reporting that Sandiford has been sharing a cell with 13 women, in a 10ft by 8ft-wide room designed to hold three inmates.

Sources say she is regarded as the ‘queen’ or the ‘grandmother’ of the prison, and is the only one with a proper mattress and dines on steak once a week due to receiving preferential treatment behind bars.

Sandiford also had the chance to be reunited with her family for the first time in years.

A source said she had ‘cuddles and kisses’ with her grandchildren’ after her family were allowed a rare visit to Kerobokan Prison.

They told The Mirror: “She was happy and all went well. Normally, these visits are held away from the normal meeting area but still have walls and iron bars with one door.

“There’s always one or more guards who are stationed within earshot. But she was allowed to hold her family and have cuddles and kisses.”