From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok
Link to Evening Standard story
Link to Sydney Morning Herald story
A London martial arts expert on holiday in Thailand to study Thai kicking boxing claims he was beaten, shackled and imprisoned after a British Embassy official told local immigration police that they could not find a record of his passport.
Believing the passport was forged Thai police charged 44-yr-old Simon Burrowes with travelling on false papers , and he was left languishing in a squalid jail cell with 120 other prisoners packed like sardines.
Staff at the British Embassy in Bangkok actually found the passport record the following week, claiming that they had to contact the office in Melbourne, Australia, where it was issued.
But although they managed to get the initial charge dropped, Burrowes was left to languish in the jail for a total of 21 days after they pressed an additional charge of insulting immigration officers.
Now Burrowes has lost his flat in the U.K. and is penniless in Thailand awaiting local justice which could take over a year. He lost his temper when his flight, for which he had a non-refundable ticket, took off without him and allegedly called Immigration officers ‘f**king idiots’.
H e claims: “The Embassy had more than 24 hours to establish my passport was real. But they couldn’t. In this day and age I find that difficult to believe.”
He says he was unaware of the new charge until Embassy officials told him. “It does not seem right,” he said.
Burrowes, broke his silence for the first time today, over the incident which has been buzzing on expat internet forums in Thailand. He had just been able to pay bail and had been released from jail on the holiday island where he had to sleep in an area just 126 centimetres by 52 cms.
He said he had been on a working holiday as trainer to former British Kick-Boxing champion Michael Nagle.
“I was arrested on a Friday January 30 while getting my flight back to Britain. Thai Immigration officials said they were suspicious of my passport. When they checked with the British Embassy an official told them they could find no record of my passport.
“When the phone was passed to me the Embassy official must have known I was British. I told them the passport was legal and I had been using it for nine years. The official said he could not find any record of it. The number was not on their computers. I begged him to double check.
“But he refused. He said the Embassy closed at Friday midday for their weekly long week-end. And they could not reach the right people. They said they would prioritise the matter the following week.
After I handed back the phone “The Thai policeman turned to me and said ‘So which country do you want to be deported to!’ and I was sent to jail. But officials had all day in London to check me out. I cannot believe they could not have done it. I cannot believe my records are not there.”
“From that moment on I was treated as someone less than human. I was handcuffed to another Thai and sent to court. As I was being led into the court I was beaten by an official with a leather strap.
“Then they sent me to jail because I did not have the £2,000 they demanded for bail. In jail the only people treated worse than me were the Burmese who were made to do call the cleaning.”
Burrowes, who says he has ‘absolutely no criminal convictions’, was visited in prison by the local consular representative the following Tuesday, but it was not until another week passed that Embassy officials told him they had checked and verified that his passport was genuine.
“That’s when I heard they were pressing a charge of insulting Thai official. But they could do little else to help me further”.
One of the officials said: “I can empathise with your self-righteousness” and that it was one of the one in a thousand glitch cases. “
Burrowes, freely admit that he used the words ‘f**king’ and ‘idiot’ in front of immigration officials when his flight, for which his ticket was non refundable, left without him.
“They had kept me waiting for an hour studying my passport with a magnifying glass. I told them if they did not hurry I would miss my flight. They told me the flight could not leave without their permission. But it did.
“I was angry. I grabbed my passport and walked out of the Immigration area, saying ‘I am a British citizen who has come to your country to spend my money. Don’t treat me like a ‘f**king idiot’ .
He then went to the Information Counter and demanded to speak to the Chief of Police or Head of Immigration. That’s when his problems began.
Thai Immigration police say it was they who were called “f**cking idiots”. His case for insulting an immigration official could take a year, longer if he pleads not guilty. Courts sit only one day a month and his first hearing is not until April 27th.
“The people in Phuket have been wonderful. Friends are paying for my bedsit. And local Thais have given me free gym membership. But I have lost my flat in Wembley because I cannot pay the rent now.
“I understand I knew little about Thai culture. But surely they must know try to understand our culture too. The words I said would spring to many people’s minds in the same situation”.
A British Embassy spokesman said: “ The validity of Mr Burrowes passport was resolved within three working days. We proceeded to check the validity of the passport immediately upon being informed by the police of his arrest on the Friday.
“At no point did the embassy tell anyone involved that the passport was false. The diplomatic mission that issued the passport replied to confirm the passport’s validity the following Tuesday. We then informed the police and they dropped that charge. The subsequent period of detention and court proceedings relate to a different charge”.
Although a born and bred Brit, Simon Burrowes parents came originally from Guyana.
ENDS
But surely they must know try to understand our culture too. The words I said would spring to many people’s minds in the same situation”.
Typical Hooligan Brit….hope he gets a few more months in the slammer…teach all those Brit sex tourists, to at least keep a civil tongue
SAM: There are plenty of other websites more suitable for dumb comments like this. There has never been any suggestion that Burrowes was either a hooligan or a sex tourist. He was on holiday as a trainer to one of Britain’s champion kick-boxers. Comments on facts are however welcome.
It’s scumbags like Sam in Thailand that are the real problem. I’d love to see his reaction as his non refunadable ticket flies off without him and he has no extra money to buy a new ticket. Guess he would exclaim “OH JOY!”
Oh dear. Evidently the consular official to whom SB had the misfortune to speak at the time of his initial encounter was at fault. Perhaps his impending weekend was operating upon his mind- they do like their Friday afternoons off. Frankly, any Embassy Brit worth their salt would have quickly established that a) SB was a Brit and b) his passport, issued 9 years previously in Melbourne and therefore not machine readable and possibly bore idiosyncratic anomalies particular to that post, was probably genuine. Faced with this response the Thai immigration officer would have let the chap board without further delay.
Total cock up now of course. Poor bugger has my sympathy.
What a bizarre and Kafka-esque situation, all beyond the control of the unfortunate Mr. Burrowes who finds himself the victim of the supreme uninterest of a bureaucrat with something better to do on a Friday afternoon than hoik a compatriot out of Thai pokey. One would think that a simple chat with Mr. Burrowes by the consular official would have been sufficient for the purposes of establishing his Britishness, instead of which the consular bloke’s inability to exercise judgment and common sense is the catalyst for Mr. B.’s current predicament.
I remember when we had the old black passports which were hand written and the ink smudged near the d.o.b. Luckily I was in Amsterdam when I was pulled exiting Holland and Immigration called the powers that be for verification that it wasnt false. The plane was held up for me and Immigration told me to sort it when I re -entered the UK. Spoke to Immigration in the Uk who said the passport was perfectly in order, but due a visit to Thailand and quickly changed it. Even being in Holland I was concerned, and I was treated very well, I cant imagine what this poor guy was going through. We all react in different ways and it is frightening! I sure as hell wouldnt want to come against any officialdom in Thailand other than my visa! I am delighted friends are helping this poor guy out and it will be interesting to find out how the Embassy react when this guy gets back onto home soil and tells his story! Sam, I dont know what your story is, but from your comments I would class you as uneducated, millions of tourists go to Thailand for other persuits other than sex!
Very surprising that any embassy could be that big bunch of amateurs.. I´m very glad to be a Finnish citizen and certainly hope they would do a better job at doing their job. To my understanding protecting the citizens of the home country of the embassy is the most important thing they SHOULD do. SB I feel sorry for you and hope the Brit embassy does their job better in the future..