Malaysia to Hang Briton Caught Smuggling Heroin

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Briton Derrick Gregory was sentenced to death by hanging today for attempting to smuggle 1.4 pounds of heroin hidden in his boots and underwear from Malaysia to San Francisco.

Penang High Court Judge Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah said that after a five-day bench trial he could find no extenuating circumstances to warrant the less severe sentence of life imprisonment.

Gregory, 37, a painter and decorator from Richmond, England, appeared shocked when the sentence was delivered but said “It was expected, wasn’t it?” before he was led out of the dock in handcuffs to Penang jail, where he has been held since his arrest in 1982.

His lawyer said the conviction will be appealed.

Malaysia has hanged 47 people for drug offenses since 1975, including two Australians, six Singaporeans, a Thai and an Indonesian.

Gregory was found guilty of possessing the heroin at Penang Airport in October, 1982. During the five-day trial, a police witness testified that Gregory had the drugs in 18 plastic packets in his boots and underwear.

The judge said Gregory, who claimed he faced being killed by a drug syndicate unless he smuggled heroin, failed to prove he was under “extreme, persistent and imminent duress.”

The judge had the option of sending Gregory to the gallows or sentencing him to life in jail because the offense was committed before April, 1983, when Malaysia introduced the mandatory death sentence for trafficking half an ounce or more of heroin or morphine.

In London, Gregory’s brother Paul said his family planned to fly to Malaysia as soon as possible. He said Gregory’s parents, Kenneth and Mary Gregory, were “devastated.”

Gregory’s estranged wife, Carole, lives in Richmond with their 6-year-old daughter, Tara. Carole Gregory has applied for a divorce, the judge said.