Father's plea for Bali drug arrest Brighton couple

1:20pm Thursday 31st May 2012 in News By Anna Roberts, Crime reporter

Barry Dougal is concerned for his daughter Barry Dougal is concerned for his daughter

The heartbroken father of a woman who could be shot after being caught up in an international drug bust says he is convinced she is innocent.

Rachel Dougall faces death by firing squad after she was arrested in Bali.

She could be executed if she is convicted of smuggling £1.6m of cocaine into the paradise island.

The 38-year-old, who owns a flat in Eastern Terrace, Kemp Town, Brighton, has been arrested alongside her partner, Julian Ponder.

Yesterday (May 30) her father, Barry Dougall, from Haywards Heath, urged the Indonesian authorities to release her.

He said: “Let my daughter come home. I am heartbroken and shocked. I have got a granddaughter who I have never met.

“I am on autopilot, stuck in a flat miles from my daughter.

“I can’t imagine what she is going through.

“I can’t see Rachel doing things like that. I think she is innocent. It is terrifying.”

Firing squad

He said he feared his daughter would not get a fair trial, describing death by firing squad as “barbaric”.

He added: “Although I don’t know about Bali I have heard about similar cases and I am worried she won’t get a defence – that the case is already cut and dried.”

Related links

He said he had lost touch with Miss Dougall when she was in her teens but added he thought she had attended Cardinal Newman School in Hove.

Miss Dougall and Mr Ponder, who have a six-year-old daughter, Kitty, were arrested after a police sting.

Fellow Brit, mother-of-two Lindsay Sandiford, 55, from Gloucestershire, is accused of taking 11lb of cocaine into Bali in her luggage on a flight from Bangkok.

She is said to have been carrying the drugs for Miss Dougall and Mr Ponder, who were arrested six days ago.

Police claim they found a huge cocaine stash in Mr Ponder’s 4x4 vehicle and that more drugs were found in the couple’s Balinese mountain home, which they shared with their daughter Kitty, currently being cared for on the island by their gardener and maid.

Miss Dougall’s mother, Stella Woodley, 75, lives in a flat in a block off Withdean Rise, near London Road, Brighton.

She previously lived with Mr Dougall in College Place, Kemp Town.

Yesterday family and friends were gathered at the flat. A young blonde woman answered the door to The Argus but declined to speak.

'It's a fit-up claim couple'

Both Rachel Dougall and Julian Ponder say they are innocent.

Miss Dougall is said to have shouted, “It’s a fit-up, get us a decent lawyer”, while being led away by police.

Meanwhile Mr Ponder is said to have yelled: “We need a good international lawyer. it’s a fit-up.”

Friends of the couple in Bali said the allegations against them were initially dismissed as a joke.

Some told the Daily Telegraph that Miss Dougall was a “party girl” who had been innocently caught up in a “bigger game”.

One friend said: “I believe that she has been caught up in this somehow.

“I think she has been coerced and wrapped up in a bigger game than she really understood.”

Another person said: “She always had these fabulous designer clothes on. You’d see her dancing on the tables.

“She was the life of the party.”

Comments(27)

John Steed says...
1:51pm Thu 31 May 12

drug mules getting caught is hardly news it happens so frequently, english people are in jail all over the world for it the same as we have all sorts of nationalities in our jails. it is difficult to have any form of sympathy in these circumstances when one of the accused is a bit of a walter mitty character and the others seem to be living a rather affluent lifestyle. the penalties are harsh and dealers and mules know this, so no sympathy again. how ever Innocence is presumed until guilt is proven so lets keep it simple till the facts emerge at a trial.

Report this post »

MuammarQaddafi says...
2:41pm Thu 31 May 12

It is well-known--and should be researched before travelling--that most South and East Asian countries have the death penalty for drug smuggling. The countries are: Bangladesh, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, both Koreas, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Anyone visiting this region with drugs in their bag is asking for serious trouble. Still, it is only fair that all the evidence should come out at a trial, which presumably they will have.

Report this post »

Goldenwight says...
2:50pm Thu 31 May 12

As everyone knows, the Authorities in Bali routinely stop and detain completely innocent travellers and charge them with drug trafficking offenses.

Seriously? No, of course they don't. But one thing they really DON'T do is waste money on expensive legal representation for (suspected) smugglers, so there is an element of truth here. She will get legal defence, but of the very poorest sort. A bit like legal aid in the UK only not quite as useless.

If Mr Dougall really wants to help his daughter, I suggest he starts fundraising to get her a decent legal defence. Arranging the sale of her flat would be a good start.

And as for 'Another person said: “She always had these fabulous designer clothes on."' I strongly suggest that nobody points that out to the Prosecution team- lest they should start questioning how she funded her lifestyle.

Report this post »

Archie Bun says...
3:40pm Thu 31 May 12

So essentially he hasn't seen her in over 20 years, and knows nothing of the evidence. So why does he think she is innocent? He knows nothing about her.

Report this post »

Archie Bun says...
3:41pm Thu 31 May 12

Anybody using the term 'fit-up' is bound to be guilty ;)

Report this post »

Rocker says...
3:57pm Thu 31 May 12

How strange that no-one seems to validate how Mr Ponder made his living in Brighton.....the restoring of antiques doesn't seem to hold water......and he/they lived in a half a million pound seafront flat having left a trail of business disasters behind.

Report this post »

cvs says...
4:48pm Thu 31 May 12

Archie Bun wrote:
Anybody using the term 'fit-up' is bound to be guilty ;)
LOL Absolutely

Report this post »

davyboy says...
5:08pm Thu 31 May 12

there is no smoke without fire. they had a very good lifestyle, on top of failed businesses, so it was funded somehow. the best thing he could do is get his granddaughter home, and raise some money for his daughters defence. sorry to say, even a good defence lawyer may not be enough, although if they were to say who got them into this, they may get some leeway on their final sentence

Report this post »

cruckle says...
5:15pm Thu 31 May 12

John Steed wrote:
drug mules getting caught is hardly news it happens so frequently, english people are in jail all over the world for it the same as we have all sorts of nationalities in our jails. it is difficult to have any form of sympathy in these circumstances when one of the accused is a bit of a walter mitty character and the others seem to be living a rather affluent lifestyle. the penalties are harsh and dealers and mules know this, so no sympathy again. how ever Innocence is presumed until guilt is proven so lets keep it simple till the facts emerge at a trial.
A father who hasn't seen his daughter in over 20 years thinks its acceptable to comment on the situation is it the money they offered or now decided to actually take an interest in her life. The rule is innocent till proven guilty and yet so many are so quick to condemn them so quickly. This story is really sad because they will never get a fair trail so the truth will never be known

Report this post »

St Peters says...
6:22pm Thu 31 May 12

Trial by Argus reader again?

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
7:24pm Thu 31 May 12

Hmmmm ...

Report this post »

greeg2 says...
7:51pm Thu 31 May 12

I wonder how long it'll be before the government gets roped into this?

Report this post »

Morpheus says...
8:12pm Thu 31 May 12

Other papers say that they thought the package of drugs was a birthday present for their daughter. They need something a bit more convincing if they are to get off this charge.

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
9:04pm Thu 31 May 12

They were mules? I was under the impression that they were charged with being the buyers and that it was the mule that identified them in a 'sting' op.

Report this post »

eee says...
9:07pm Thu 31 May 12

They will be found guilty, sit on deaths row for five years and then jave their sentances reduced to twenty years jail. The same deal is going on with two of the Baili 9 right now, there is no way the Indo's will gun then down in cold blood as it will wreck their tourest industry for a start after all Bali's economy is based on Ausie's taken their holidays there. YAWN

Report this post »

Annumella says...
9:36pm Thu 31 May 12

As stated, grand lifestyles, several homes. Don't we have a system whereby the inland revenue looks into where money comes from. Black economy homes should be confiscated. Plenty of them in Brighton & Hove.

Report this post »

Annumella says...
9:36pm Thu 31 May 12

As stated, grand lifestyles, several homes. Don't we have a system whereby the inland revenue looks into where money comes from. Black economy homes should be confiscated. Plenty of them in Brighton & Hove.

Report this post »

hubby says...
10:07pm Thu 31 May 12

They will categorically not be shot!
Why is it even being debated?

If every drug dealer in Brighton was shot half the population would disappear.

Report this post »

HOVEPARKRESIDENT says...
11:23pm Thu 31 May 12

The father is the one who should be shot. He couldn't even be sure which school his drug trafficking daughter went to. Didn't bring her up very well did he? Disgraseful!

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
11:55pm Thu 31 May 12

Disgraceful even ;)

Report this post »

LoopyLouHove says...
12:11am Fri 1 Jun 12

This sperm donor needs to scurry back to whatever hole he crawled out of.

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
5:47am Fri 1 Jun 12

Be fair LoopyLouHove, she is 38 so must have been at least 18 or thereabouts when he saw her last ....

Report this post »

hogarth123 says...
6:04am Fri 1 Jun 12

Who cares about them? If you do the crime you should expect to do the time.
Drug dealers are the scum of the earth and the amount of damage they inflict on society is massive.

Let them rot where they deserve to be.

Its a pity that this country is not taking a hard er line on drug dealers

Report this post »

Maxwell's Ghost says...
7:27am Fri 1 Jun 12

I worked in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for two years and the prisons are filled with inmates from the EU, including Britain, many of whom had been involved in drugs or trafficking.
Many hotels and cafes in towns with prisons have posters up asking English speaking travellers to visit an inmate or drop off books and newspapers.
I met a number of UK ex-pats without any qualifications or any apparent means of supporting themselves living a very comfortable life in these countries.
I understood that some of these people were probably involved in drugs or on the run from something in the UK and the only time I was shocked was when a couple I met explained to me how they could afford to live in Asia without any apparent 'jobs'. They were generating income by trafficking teenage girls in the se* industry.
They had two small children and would take their teenage Thai nanny/maid to Japan on trips and be allowed into the country by having papers which stated that the girl was an au pair.
They would then leave the teenager in Japan for the se* industry and be paid for delivery.

Report this post »

mimseycal says...
8:39am Fri 1 Jun 12

Subhumans! Those people are subhuman Maxwell's Ghost.

Report this post »

Marmite Junky says...
10:47am Fri 1 Jun 12

This case is floored from the off. If you knew someone so well to accept a present for your daughter why wouldn't they come to your house not meet in a shady hotel?If so innocent why were there more drugs found in Mr Ponder's car and house?If Rachel is so innocent how come she never questioned how you can live in a seaside villa with servants, wear designer clothes and drive a 4x4 off of air?Mrs Sandiford could easily have notified British Police or Customs before she muled her way across the world. Has she grassed on the people that were threatening her kids yet, that will be interesting.As for Rachel's dad, if he loves her so much why was he an absent father for over 18 years and he has never bothered to see his grand daughter. Wonder what he sent her for her Birthday - bet he didn't even know it was her Birthday. Needless to say no sympathy. May it send out a message loud and clear!!

Report this post »

Wiggsy says...
12:45pm Fri 1 Jun 12

In 2001, I spent 3+ months travelling throughout SE Asia; every time I moved hostel (let alone country) I would fully unpack, repack and lock my backpack safe in the knowledge that no one had tampered with it, such is the threat that if caught with any narcotics.

Reading "The Damage Done: Twelve Years Of Hell In A Bangkok Prison" by Warren Fellows whilst travelling was enough to ensure I didn't want to find myself in Rachel Dougall's situation.

In short, you know the penalties that exist and if you get caught then its a case of "should have known better".

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree