Britain's longest-ever serving overseas prisoner freed, but not thanks to the Foreign Office

5.29.33pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 16th May 2007

The long-awaited release of Alan John Davies, Britain's longest-serving overseas prisoner who served 17 years in a Thai prison, has been greeted with relief by Graham Watson MEP who has been active in addressing Mr Davies' plight for a number of years. But Graham Watson has also used the occasion to highlight the lack of assistance provided to Mr Davies by the Foreign Office.

Speaking from Brussels, Mr Watson said:

"Whilst I'm obviously delighted and relieved to hear about John's release I think the Foreign Office must take a long-hard look at its involvement in this case. John is an innocent man and rightly feels let down by the British Government. That a British national was possibly sentenced to death upon falsified evidence provided by a consular official should be a matter of utmost concern and immediate review by the Government. The injustice and hardship he has faced for the past 17 years is an outrage and I remain on-hand to support John's fight for justice."

In March 2001, accompanied by Stephen Jakobi the Director of Fair Trials Abroad, Graham Watson presented a petition signed by over 70 Members of the European Parliament to the Thai Ambassador to the EU which called for Mr Davies' release. In 2003 he called upon the Prime Minister Tony Blair to intervene in the case and support a clemency plea for Mr Davies whilst the Foreign and Commonwealth Office continued to press for an application for a prison transfer: a move which would have meant an admission of guilt, which Mr Davies has always denied.

Mr Davies was arrested with others in 1990 charged with attempting to sell a large quantity of heroin to a police informer. Despite inconsistencies in police evidence, a failure to produce key evidence and the acquittal of his co-accused, Mr Davies was found guilty in 1994 and sentenced to death, though this was later commuted to life imprisonment. Eight years after Mr Davies' conviction, investigation of the court files by his defence team revealed an official at the British Embassy had provided secret evidence to the court, in the form of false statements on Embassy letterhead, including an incorrect statement that he was wanted by British officials on drugs offences. Mr Davies was released in Thailand on 8th May, having come to the end of his sentence. His case is currently under review in Thailand.