Original subtitles

Red light district.

Just become the place to be, really.

Months ago, I was a bleeding, normal, mundane light.

Now, I'm a pimp.

Dealing prostitution, drugs.

I felt like a superstar.

I thought, I can do this.

You got the honey?

He just spoiled our control.

We don't wait for a long time.

A lot I got myself into.

I really don't know if I can go through with it.

I wish I could go back to boring old England and my boring old job.

I grew up in a place called Watford, just on the outskirts of London.

So I was a postman.

I absolutely loathed it.

I hated the job, I hated everything about it.

It was more like glamourised paperboy.

Same day in, day out.

I was living at home with my parents.

I only moved out once in my life with a girlfriend.

Got a flat.

That didn't work out.

I wanted to make something of myself as well.

To have my own business, not working for someone else.

It's always been my dream to own a bar in a place like Thailand.

I've been there on holiday.

And it was a brilliant time.

I thought I had no chance of actually moving there.

Jim?

Can I have a minute?

I found one morning a management calls me into his office.

I'm sorry, Jim.

There's been some cutbacks.

How do you feel about taking redundancy?

I'll find it now.

I've been looking forward to this time for so many years, and now it's finally

happened to me.

It's £33 ,000.

It was enough for me to live my dream.

When I wrote Violet, I went into party mode.

And for the first time, I really felt happy for a long, long time.

I had a friend called John, who owned a very popular bar.

Drinking, chatting with people.

I felt special.

Not the normal Jimmy the Postman.

I rented out an apartment for one year.

I thought, I'll see how it goes. Give me one year, see if I settle in, see if

it's not just a dream, if I can make this work.

I just felt like a different person then.

Months went by, and the red light district, I love.

You've got nightclubs.

everyone's happy, everyone's drinking.

It's just become the place to be, really.

On the way home one day, there was a rent sign on this bar.

I'd squandered a lot of money whilst just partying, saying it's got to

Why not go for it?

My first thought was go and see my friend John, get some advice off him.

I'm serious about this, John.

Listen, mate, you want to run a bar around here, you're going to accept that

you're going to have girls working out of it.

Explain to me, if you become a bar owner here, you've got to play by the rules.

You've got to pay the right people.

You make sure you pay the police.

A lot of people think prostitution in Thailand is above board.

It's totally illegal.

But you've got to pay the police a certain amount to stay open every month.

If you don't, they're going to throw you out of here.

Or worse.

Worse?

Throw you off your island.

Lock you up.

I wasn't sure if I was the right person for it or not.

But in the back of my mind, it was worth the risk for me to live my dream in

Thailand.

I put a sign up outside the bar, Jimmy Chang's staff wanted.

If you have a bar around there with no staff, no girls, you've got no chance.

Selling drinks, hiring out loads of girls, you make money that way.

All of a sudden, the girls were calling me, not Jim anymore,

they were calling me boss.

Which was a nice feeling.

Jimmy Chang's Open for Business!

Many people turned up that night. The music was blaring.

Everyone was drunk.

People shaking hands, congratulating, you know.

I felt really proud of what I'd done.

Finally,

I loved my life.

I knew the police were coming at some point because it was in the red light

district.

You know why I'm here?

For the money.

How much?

They explained to me, you can sell drinks, you can sell ladies, but you

pay us money.

And I can stay open all night?

What if I don't pay?

We shut you down.

I'll see you at the end of the week.

Months ago, I was a postman leading a normal mundane life.

Now, I've taken the bar over.

I've become a pimp, paying the police protection money.

I didn't realise what I was getting myself into.

I spent many months in Thailand.

In Red Light District, where the bar was, it's quite seedy.

You could go to bed with ten women if you wanted to, if you had enough money.

I was the only westerner along the street.

Taking their business.

It's scary.

Playing a dangerous game.

There's one guy coming to the bar blatantly dealing drugs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, hang on a second. And the girls are buying pills off him and

exchanging money.

I knew I couldn't let it go on.

It wasn't the place to have drugs.

Of course you can get in serious trouble for it.

He'd smile back at me.

That was the worst thing I could have wished for.

When you get a Thai smiling at you when they shouldn't be smiling, you know

there's a problem.

No one's ever pointed a gun at me before.

And I looked straight at him, he was looking at me.

Of course it was a death threat.

If someone points a gun at you, it is a death threat.

In 2009,

My brother comes out to see me.

And I'm so looking forward to this, I ain't seen him for quite a while.

Gary's not just my brother, he's my best mate.

Not that spot, eh?

Paradise.

Gary's the older brother and I always looked up to him and respected him.

Yeah, love him more than life.

So, this is my place.

I really wanted to make Gary proud.

This is great.

And I think that's the whole point of me doing this.

Right.

Let's get to the bar.

As soon as I walked in there, I was really excited

to see the girls.

Music blaring out.

I can see in his face he won't dress.

This ain't right, mate.

You need to come home.

For him to see his brother actually have a bar in the bed like this street

was... I think it's quite a shock to him.

Yeah, I don't like to see my brother upset.

But you weren't impressed with me at all.

I'd let him down.

Next day, my brother returned home.

It hurt me, what Gary said to me.

But I thought to myself, I've chose this life, you know.

It's my decision.

Now I've had that first bite of the apple.

As they say, it's kind of like, I want more.

I went back to one of my staff's apartments with a few of her friends.

One of the girls brought a bag of crystal meth out, which they call lice

Thailand.

This was a massive deal for me. I've never done like this before.

The rush you got from it, you're on the total high.

All of a sudden, it just grabs hold of you.

It just spiralled out of control.

You can drink what you want.

You can party really hard.

When you think you can get so much done, you can work 24 hours and not sleep.

In my mind, I was on top of my game.

A couple of months later, I'm not just smoking ice anymore.

I'm selling it.

Bits and pieces, one gram here, one gram there.

It's only low -key.

But I wanted more.

And I've become a bit greedy.

The bar next door to me is a bigger plot than mine.

I want this bar to extend my bar.

For it to be a little gold mine.

It's going to take me quite a bit of money to do this.

So to fund this, I need to start selling a lot more drugs.

In hindsight, it was a terrible idea.

A few days later, one of the girls said she's got a contact that sells ice.

And it's strong, really strong.

And it's cheap.

So do it for half price?

Yes, half price.

It's only $50.

And I couldn't believe it.

Like, I've been paying $100, $110.

It's good stuff.

Okay.

Text me his number.

I'll set up a meeting, buy a few grand, see if it's any good.

I arranged to buy 10 grand.

I didn't know what to expect.

Hello?

Yeah, I'm in a black car. You'll see me.

All right, well... I'm thinking to myself, this is going to go really well,

or it's all going to go wrong. I'm going to get sold rubbish.

I'm going to get ripped off.

It's not a lot of drugs, but it's enough to get me a long time in a Thai prison.

I'm looking around, and I don't know who or what he looks like or anything.

The Thai guy's just sat in the passenger seat, and I don't know who he is.

Could be a policeman, could be anyone.

What have I got myself into?

You got the money?

Yeah.

My heart's racing.

I don't know if it's a set -up, or is he going to shoot me?

Door's shut. He's gone.

I'm sitting there thinking, what have I just done?

If I get caught with 10 grams of ice in my possession, I'll probably end up in

prison.

When I got back home with the drugs, there was a relief, massive relief.

But I actually got away with it.

It's stronger than I've ever tasted.

It just blew my mind.

I thought, this is going to sell.

Girls, girls, come here.

I gave five grams away to the girls. I've got something for you, all right?

Let your friends smoke it, whoever wants to smoke it, and see what you think.

OK, all right, OK.

Yeah,

OK.

Within half an hour, the phone's going.

Yeah.

Right, how much do you want?

Jimmy, get some more, get some more.

The phone was red hot.

Hello?

Yes, Jimmy.

Now I want five grams.

I want ten grams.

Hey, get these guys a drink. I'll have one for me, yeah? I felt

like a superstar.

Everyone wanted to know me now.

So I said to myself, I need... Plan another trip.

And it's not going to be a 10 -gram trip.

I'm planning on bringing 200 grams.

That's a lot.

But this time, I'm going to plan it a lot better.

No meeting in Peckham Station.

No money changing hands.

Take all the money I could get hold of, which equated to $13 ,000.

I thought I can hide the money in the hubcaps.

The guy was going to take the money and put the drugs in place.

Hi, it's me.

Yeah, I'll be there in about an hour.

I'm worried if you take the money and don't leave the drugs, I'm pretty much

ruined. That's all my money gone.

And I'm walking down these aisles.

And I'm going around aimlessly picking things off the shelves, not even

what I'm buying.

And my mind's ticking over what's going on downstairs.

I was panicking like mad.

One part of me wanted to take off a wheel cap and see if the drugs are

But it's stupid to do that.

They could have been police watching me.

I've got to trust this guy.

My heart was racing. I just couldn't wait to get back to my place.

When I got back home, I bent down, started unscrewing the first hubcap,

thinking, what am I going to find there?

Have I been ripped off?

I fell on top of the world.

I felt great.

I'm now in possession of 200 grams of ice, which is a ridiculous amount.

So I phoned the third girl.

I sold five grams of ice for $500.

Within five days, the ice was all gone. A whole lot.

Which, to me, is worth $926 ,000.

I thought, if I can do a few of these trips, I'll have enough money to buy the

bar next door.

That'll be the end. That'll be good.

Now I've got a lot of money sitting around.

It's drug money.

So I need to hide it somewhere.

In my bedroom, I've, like, polystyrene panel ceiling.

And you can lift these squares off. It's a kind of suspended ceiling.

So you can lift them off and put the money up there and put the ceiling back

down.

And to me, that's safe.

In hindsight, that was a terrible idea.

It should have been buried.

Everything should have been buried.

Who is it?

I felt like I was out of my depth now.

Total stranger standing there.

What do you want?

I want some ice.

What? Hey!

Now, people know where I live.

I don't know what you're talking about, mate.

People know that I've got a load of drugs in the house.

I'm starting to feel paranoid.

I'm in this position where I can imagine quite a few guns being pointed at me.

I'm undercutting the drug dealers on the island.

It's too dangerous.

I've been in Thailand for quite a while, and all's going well.

But I want to be settled for the rest of my life.

I felt there was something missing.

One night, I finished work.

Maybe about 2 o 'clock in the morning.

On the way back, I need to chill out.

There's a nice little bar just around the corner from my house.

Went in there, got myself a drink.

Hi.

Hi.

Pretty, isn't it?

Gorgeous.

We start talking and I find out her name is Son.

started chatting to her, bought her a drink.

After about an hour or so, a couple of drinks, we had a really nice time

together.

And we were talking about bars and stuff, and she goes,

I said,

I have a little bit, if you want to try it.

Following morning, we exchanged phone numbers.

I wanted to see her again, you know.

That was fun.

Let's do it again soon, yeah? Yeah.

See you.

It was only one night, but I was quite beside with her.

There was a spark.

Someone just likes me for who I am.

It's nice to be loved.

Life was good, and the money's coming in, and I'm enjoying myself.

A

few days

later. Hello.

Hey, son.

How you doing?

And some rings.

She asked me if she can buy some ice off me.

Yeah, no, I've got some. Just come over.

She knows I have it.

No, no, no, you don't need to, please.

I told you, it's free for you.

Yeah. Can I have a little bit?

Just come round.

OK, see you soon.

So, a couple of hours later, I hear a motorbike pull up round the corner, Look

over the balcony, and there she is, walking towards me.

Hey.

Coming in?

No, I just came here for the... Okay.

For you.

No, take it.

Just have it.

Are you sure?

Okay.

No, I've told you, I don't want your money. Take it.

Why did she give me money for?

Why is she not taking all the drugs?

I thought this was weird.

Okay, you're going to come in for a drink. No, I've got to go.

I remember standing there. I've got 3 ,000 baht in my hand. I've got drugs in

hand.

Like half a gram of ice.

And she started tooting the horn.

I couldn't understand what she was doing.

I felt my arm being grabbed.

And it's all gone slow motion now.

My heart's racing.

But I'm trying to calm down.

I've been to myself.

All I had at the moment was half a gram of ice and 3 ,000 baht.

It's only a small amount.

Don't worry, not a big problem.

I've still come my way out of this.

When they searched the house, they took me to every room so I could see what

they was doing.

Everyone was searching all the wardrobes, all the cabinets with TV,

unit.

And the guy sitting in the polystyrene towel banged the first one out.

second one and he was getting so close to it

and I was thinking is he going to stop before he gets to that time could he by

chance miss that time

Like Thailand just won the World Cup in football.

Now they've got the money.

I'm well and truly done.

Mind full.

Another part of being stupid.

When it actually happens, you think about should have done this, should have

done that.

Too late.

They found drugs in the car.

I knew I'd been picked up in the plane.

They all just hung in.

It was some... She don't lie to me.

She's an informer.

I've read... Horror stories about typhus.

I never thought in my own mind I'd end up in one.

I'm really frightened at this point because I don't know what's going to

to me in there.

I couldn't believe what I was walking into.

And I couldn't believe how many people were there.

All eyes were on me.

The first time I saw myself, I couldn't believe the size of it.

It's like 20 feet by 20 feet, and there's 30 of us.

It's going to be bad enough to try and stand up, let alone lie down and sleep.

There's a squat toilet in the corner of the room.

It's going to stink in here as well.

And to be right, it did.

And the heat just hit you. It was like an oven.

Nine o 'clock is the time we go to bed.

I never turn the lights off.

24 -7.

I didn't sleep all night.

I knew I wouldn't be seeing friends or family for a very long time.

This ain't right, mate.

I wish I could go back to boring old England and my boring old job.

I always expected my name to be in life.

Open for business!

Come on, Poplar.

Thank you.

Powerful.

My mom was a big boss.

I had it all.

But that's the end of it. That's my dream totally shattered.

Six o 'clock in the morning. We was released from the felt.

They pushed me out into the middle of the yard with all the other prisoners.

There was one guy in the middle of the day.

Ran towards the fence.

He just went running across the yard.

jumped on the fence and we couldn't believe he got to the top.

We knew he was going nowhere.

All the captains rushed out.

They beat the living hell out of him.

How am I going to get through this?

What is going to happen next to me?

And within a week of being in prison, I have a visit from my brother.

At first, I didn't believe it.

I see the shock in his face when he saw me.

I've got grey hair and 20 years in 10 days.

And chained up like an animal.

How are you, mate?

I'm all right. I tried to explain to him everything's going to be OK.

But obviously, my face and the way I look, it's not good.

Listen, Jim, I found a lawyer.

I haven't got the money for a lawyer.

I've got my savings.

How much?

80 ,000.

I just felt guilt with your sin.

And I said, don't waste your money on me.

I'm going to do everything I can to get you out of here.

All right?

Gary transfers the money over to the lawyer.

At the moment, I'm looking at 25 years.

I felt dead inside.

At that point in time, it just feels like someone ripped my heart out.

Over the next few weeks, I was down back and forth to court.

On the day of sentencing, I only ended up with five and a half years.

So I know the law has been involved, thanks to my brother.

The days, they go so slow here.

But then the days, they turn into weeks.

Start losing track of what you're doing.

It just wears you down.

To put my family through that as well, I knew it'd be tearing them to bits.

It felt like they was doing the sentence with me.

It was torture, but...

I'm guilty.

Like everyone else in here.

Some of the prisoners were killers.

So you do anything to survive.

One day the fight broke out and I'm right in the middle of him.

Two rival gangs fighting between each other. I can't get out of the way.

Captain, they're rushing in. And they come in with their weapons, and it's

battling people all over the place.

And I turned around, and all I could feel was smash in my face.

How in the hell am I going to get through this?

Is this where I die?

Three of my teeth have been knocked out of me.

I was in shock.

Totally stunned. I couldn't believe what just happened to me.

I'm just starting to lose it.

I really don't know if I can carry on with this.

When people come into that prison, they change.

A guy from Holland, he was caught on his motorbike with a small bit of grass.

We always stuck together.

We ended up great pals.

But one day, he changed.

And he was panicking.

He couldn't handle prison, so he hung himself.

I can't understand a guy at that age, 24, he's got his whole life to look

forward to.

You need to be strong in a place like that.

And obviously he wasn't.

I just felt like I should have done more for him.

I realised I needed to survive.

I needed to value life now.

Get back to see my family again.

I need to go back and apologise.

I needed one more chance.

Two years, three months into my prison term, I was told, embassy visit,

Jim Kelly.

James Kelly?

Yeah.

I have some papers here to take you back to England.

The embassy official explains that I can be transferred back to England and

finish my sentence in my own country.

Get out of here.

Yeah.

When I heard the news, you know, I'm over the moon.

This is me getting out of hell.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next time I saw my brother Gary was in a prison visit in Wandsworth.

See you then.

Sorry for everything.

I saw my brother Gary.

He's saved my life now.

And... I wouldn't be doing this interview

if it wasn't for him, you know?

How's Mum?

She feels...

She misses you.

I've paid for it.

And it's not just me who's paid for it.

People have hurt around me.

My family is selfish what I've done.

People have said to me, would you do it again?

Not a hope.