Briton Serving 50-Year Sentence for Selling Ecstasy Pills Being Transferred to the UK

BANGKOK – Briton Lance Whitmore, who was caught with ecstasy pills in Pattaya in 2014 and sentenced to 50 years in prison is set to be transferred back to the UK to serve the remainder of his sentence.

Lance Whitmore now 31, originally from Bromsgrove, England, was 26 when he was caught with 200 ecstasy pills in Pattaya in 2014.

The former soldier had been working for Petroleum Oil Services when he was arrested in the car park of a supermarket in Pattaya trying to sell the pills to a fellow Briton, who turned out to be a police informant.

Whitmore pleaded guilty in Pattaya court to distributing ecstasy pills and was given a 50 year sentence then transferred to the notorious Klong Prem prison to serve his sentence.

According to The Nation Whitmore will soon be transported back to the UK to serve out the remainder of his sentence under the International Transfer of Prisoners Scheme.

However, he could still be required to serve up to 21 years in jail, even though his legal team had indicated previously that he could be freed in less than 10 years.

At the time of his sentencing, Whitmore’s family told the British press that he had been a victim of entrapment, claiming he had been framed by police officers who target tourists. They also claimed that he was taken to a “safe house” after arrest, where he was allegedly chained up for three days. His family also described the conditions inside Klong Prem prison as inhumane and “worse than a PoW camp”.

A GoFund Me page set up by Whitmore’s parents says that their son was naïve and depressed at the time of arrest, because he was coming to terms with the sudden death of his fiancée in Thailand and his grandfather in the UK. The page also alleges he had been taken advantage of and coerced into transporting the pills.