Bali prosecutors seek 15 years for UK drug accused

Indonesian prosecutors recommended a 15-year prison term Thursday for a British grandmother accused of trafficking in cocaine on the resort island of Bali. Lindsay June Sandiford, 56, was arrested at Denpasar airport in May with 4.79 kilograms (10.6 pounds) of cocaine stashed in the lining of her suitcase. She helped police net three Britons and an Indian in connection with the case. Prosecutors recommended judges sentence her to 15 years after finding here "legitimately and convincingly guilty of committing a narcotics crime", prosecutor Lie Putra Setiawan told the Denpasar district court. The same court jailed Briton Rachel Dougall on Thursday for 12 months for failing to report a crime. On Wednesday the court sentenced Briton Paul Beales, 40, to four years for possession of 3.6 grams of hashish at his house, clearing him of more serious charges of drug trafficking and sale. The fourth Briton, Julian Ponder, is on trial for trafficking and possession and his sentence recommendation is scheduled for January 3. He was arrested when he allegedly picked up a gift-wrapped package from Sandiford in eastern Bali, a week after her arrest. The sentence demand for Sandiford was lighter than the maximum penalty of death. Several convicts who have smuggled large amounts of narcotics have received the death penalty or a life sentence. Prosecutors said they made a lenient recommendation because she had admitted her crime and behaved politely in court. In the courtroom, a quiet bespectacled Sandiford shrouded her head with a blue beach sarong to avoid journalists trying to photograph her. She is expected to present her defence in the next trial session on January 3. Indonesia has enforced stiff penalties for drug traffickers in recent years. Two members of an Australian drug smuggling gang known as the "Bali Nine", who were arrested in 2005, are on death row while the seven others face lengthy jail terms. Another Australian, Schapelle Corby, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana in 2005, recently had her term slashed by five years after a clemency appeal to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.