1 00:00:10,030 --> 00:00:15,330 Whatever was going on, I'd be in, 100%. Two kilos, one bag. 2 00:00:15,970 --> 00:00:16,970 That's it. 3 00:00:17,850 --> 00:00:21,290 But I never thought I would be a drug smuggler. 4 00:00:24,770 --> 00:00:26,590 I just had nothing left to lose. 5 00:00:27,070 --> 00:00:28,070 Bag. 6 00:00:30,150 --> 00:00:31,350 Was it a right decision? 7 00:00:31,650 --> 00:00:32,650 Of course it was. 8 00:00:33,770 --> 00:00:39,150 I found myself in one of the most extreme prisons in the world. 9 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:42,500 I'm not allowed to move. 10 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:44,320 I'm not allowed to speak. 11 00:00:45,780 --> 00:00:47,980 How the hell did my life come to this? 12 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:11,340 My name's Stephen Beattie. 13 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,440 I'm just a normal working -class lad from the northwest of England. 14 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,180 People call me Steve, amongst other things. 15 00:01:21,500 --> 00:01:23,080 I'd definitely say I was a joker. 16 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:25,380 I don't take life too seriously. 17 00:01:25,780 --> 00:01:32,640 I like the excessive extremes, that little step more for the good or the 18 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:33,640 guess. 19 00:01:38,510 --> 00:01:39,970 Around about 2004, 20 00:01:40,870 --> 00:01:45,630 I guess I'd have been 34, I was more or less living in Thailand. 21 00:01:46,190 --> 00:01:49,150 I just fell in love with the place, the old vibe about it. 22 00:01:51,430 --> 00:01:57,030 Just wandering around, very carefree, and just going bar to bar. 23 00:01:59,730 --> 00:02:05,430 It was just pure escapism. I just found a way of not dealing with realities of 24 00:02:05,430 --> 00:02:07,270 what really I should have been dealing with. 25 00:02:09,289 --> 00:02:12,050 Back in England, my relationship had fallen apart. 26 00:02:12,730 --> 00:02:17,830 I had children, and unfortunately, it went quite wrong. 27 00:02:19,010 --> 00:02:20,830 And I took it pretty bad. 28 00:02:21,470 --> 00:02:28,310 It was quite horrific for me, and 29 00:02:28,310 --> 00:02:31,430 then my mother passed away. 30 00:02:32,850 --> 00:02:36,890 Didn't handle it well, and it was like trauma after trauma. 31 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:40,340 I had nothing left to lose. 32 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:48,680 Like many people, I'd moved on to Thailand, trying to escape life's 33 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:49,740 failure. 34 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:56,740 I do wish I'd have been a lot stronger, especially from my children and my 35 00:02:56,740 --> 00:02:59,140 sisters and the rest of the family. 36 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:04,300 But I just buried my head in the Thai sands and just ignoring the pain. 37 00:03:17,500 --> 00:03:19,060 Thailand is very cheap. 38 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:24,480 You wouldn't think you could spend that much money. 39 00:03:26,460 --> 00:03:28,680 But I did. 40 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,760 It was a crazy lifestyle. 41 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:38,660 I'd met this guy, Joe. 42 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,500 He was a bit of a character, quite dodgy. 43 00:03:42,900 --> 00:03:44,580 He made his money. 44 00:03:45,210 --> 00:03:48,670 Steroid smuggling, cigarette smuggling, that was quite a big thing. 45 00:03:49,070 --> 00:03:54,410 Hey, Joe, do you want a beer? I confess to him that my money was running out. 46 00:03:55,010 --> 00:03:59,930 He started talking about this opportunity of making a bit of money 47 00:03:59,930 --> 00:04:00,930 cannabis. 48 00:04:04,490 --> 00:04:07,450 He said, there's quite a few people doing this. 49 00:04:08,070 --> 00:04:09,890 Have a think about it. I'll go and grab you a beer. 50 00:04:10,670 --> 00:04:13,610 OK? He told me everybody was getting away with it. 51 00:04:14,430 --> 00:04:19,490 Even if you got caught, it was maybe one year, six -month sentence, because it 52 00:04:19,490 --> 00:04:20,990 was only weed. 53 00:04:22,050 --> 00:04:24,310 I thought it was really innocent. 54 00:04:25,830 --> 00:04:28,610 You're not doing hard, class -A drugs. 55 00:04:29,170 --> 00:04:30,129 Here you go, buddy. 56 00:04:30,130 --> 00:04:31,130 Cheers, pal. 57 00:04:31,270 --> 00:04:34,850 I felt at the time that it was worth the risk. 58 00:04:35,770 --> 00:04:36,770 All right. 59 00:04:37,330 --> 00:04:38,330 I'm in. 60 00:04:38,350 --> 00:04:39,350 Cheers, buddy. 61 00:04:39,370 --> 00:04:41,930 Cheers. I just didn't want to go home. 62 00:04:42,890 --> 00:04:47,370 Going home was facing reality, and I just, I still wasn't, I wasn't prepared 63 00:04:47,370 --> 00:04:48,229 face reality. 64 00:04:48,230 --> 00:04:50,030 I just wanted to stay living this dream. 65 00:04:58,650 --> 00:05:03,550 So I went with Joe to meet these Iranian guys that were smuggling the marijuana. 66 00:05:08,470 --> 00:05:11,650 It was all quite a shift, if I'm honest. 67 00:05:14,090 --> 00:05:18,450 And I'm just looking around thinking, are we being watched? I mean, we haven't 68 00:05:18,450 --> 00:05:19,450 even done anything yet. 69 00:05:21,870 --> 00:05:26,630 How scary. 70 00:05:29,450 --> 00:05:30,450 Can I help you? 71 00:05:30,770 --> 00:05:32,110 I'll be here to see Addy. 72 00:05:32,910 --> 00:05:33,950 OK, follow me. 73 00:05:37,370 --> 00:05:38,970 Stephen. Hi. 74 00:05:41,230 --> 00:05:42,230 Take a seat. 75 00:05:43,850 --> 00:05:45,890 I knew this guy was going to sweet -talk me. 76 00:05:46,370 --> 00:05:47,370 What's up? 77 00:05:47,750 --> 00:05:53,330 Well, you can say whatever you want. I just need to know what I'm carrying and 78 00:05:53,330 --> 00:05:54,510 where I'm going to. 79 00:05:54,890 --> 00:05:55,890 Relax. 80 00:05:57,710 --> 00:06:01,150 Addy asked me to actually smuggle drugs to Japan. 81 00:06:01,750 --> 00:06:02,750 Japan? 82 00:06:03,270 --> 00:06:08,270 Where I'd never heard of people smuggling drugs to. But he did say that 83 00:06:08,270 --> 00:06:09,450 was a lot more money. 84 00:06:11,370 --> 00:06:17,650 The basic plan was to smuggle 4kg of cannabis, but the street value in Japan 85 00:06:17,650 --> 00:06:21,050 very high, something like $120 ,000. 86 00:06:22,110 --> 00:06:24,730 I was to get $8 ,000. 87 00:06:28,990 --> 00:06:34,970 Adi's plan was for me to go to Nepal, pick up the marijuana, 88 00:06:35,570 --> 00:06:40,810 fly to Taiwan, then get the ferry to Okinawa. 89 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:42,280 in Japan. 90 00:06:42,860 --> 00:06:44,600 So, but what is the risk? 91 00:06:45,580 --> 00:06:51,380 And he said, it is a higher risk because the Japanese are very strict. 92 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:56,920 I thought, well, obviously it's risky. 93 00:06:58,780 --> 00:06:59,960 Don't worry about that. 94 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:01,920 You got it. 95 00:07:02,660 --> 00:07:05,460 And he said to me, we've got a good cover story for you. 96 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:09,280 I was going to be a diver on like a sporting holiday. 97 00:07:10,250 --> 00:07:15,950 So we had the golf clubs, all the diving equipment, and cleverly hidden amongst 98 00:07:15,950 --> 00:07:19,850 all this was 4kg of marijuana. 99 00:07:20,470 --> 00:07:26,270 And so basically it was an adventure holiday, which is what I would do 100 00:07:26,270 --> 00:07:27,690 naturally. 101 00:07:28,790 --> 00:07:34,190 The more it's something that I really would do, the story is believable in my 102 00:07:34,190 --> 00:07:35,190 head as well. 103 00:07:35,910 --> 00:07:38,450 Addy said it was a foolproof system. 104 00:07:39,370 --> 00:07:40,870 The drugs were undetectable. 105 00:07:41,570 --> 00:07:42,990 You know, just feeling your confidence. 106 00:07:43,350 --> 00:07:45,210 OK. And I was just thinking, brilliant. 107 00:07:46,210 --> 00:07:47,890 I kind of like the sound of that. 108 00:07:48,390 --> 00:07:55,030 And that's me, safe, not going home for who knows, hopefully, a good while 109 00:07:55,030 --> 00:07:56,030 anyway. 110 00:07:58,350 --> 00:08:00,850 But, oh, my God, how can it be so stupid? 111 00:08:03,970 --> 00:08:08,250 A couple of weeks after meeting Addy, I was off to Kathmandu. 112 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:12,340 To help the cover story, I made a holiday bit as well. 113 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,360 I flew around Everest, which was an amazing experience. 114 00:08:18,180 --> 00:08:23,560 A small part of me was thinking, if it does go wrong, let's have fun while it 115 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:24,560 lasts. 116 00:08:25,580 --> 00:08:27,840 I'd been there probably over a week. 117 00:08:30,900 --> 00:08:31,900 Hello? 118 00:08:32,340 --> 00:08:35,220 The bags with the rug got dropped off. 119 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,000 And I'm thinking, oh, my God. 120 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:53,560 Hi, sir. Good day. 121 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:00,260 I met this guy. He was like, yeah, he's the guy. 122 00:09:00,980 --> 00:09:01,980 No? 123 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:03,920 No, no. Fine. OK. 124 00:09:04,140 --> 00:09:05,260 Good day, mate. Cheers, mate. 125 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,000 I'm looking for any signs of the smell. 126 00:09:14,180 --> 00:09:15,560 I can't smell anything. 127 00:09:15,780 --> 00:09:17,240 I like a new bag smell. 128 00:09:18,140 --> 00:09:19,200 What are you going to expect? 129 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,980 I'm thinking, right, it's getting real now, so let's have a look at these bags. 130 00:09:28,860 --> 00:09:30,980 So obviously you couldn't see the drugs. 131 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:37,540 But I've been told inside the lining of the bag where a board would be. 132 00:09:38,990 --> 00:09:43,130 That is basically changed to blocks of cannabis. 133 00:09:45,390 --> 00:09:47,590 I couldn't believe that it was really in there. 134 00:09:48,330 --> 00:09:51,650 It really gave me the confidence that I could actually get away with this. 135 00:09:52,710 --> 00:09:57,530 It was the following day when the drama was going to start. 136 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:10,360 Adi had said everybody was paid off at the airport. 137 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:16,840 Everybody knew what was going on. But there's soldiers everywhere, all over 138 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:17,840 airport. 139 00:10:18,300 --> 00:10:21,520 So I'm thinking, is this a big spanner in the works? 140 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:35,200 It turned out there was just a military coup in Nepal. 141 00:10:38,250 --> 00:10:41,930 I'm thinking all this cover story, people paid off. 142 00:10:43,990 --> 00:10:45,810 It's gone wrong straight away. 143 00:10:48,970 --> 00:10:52,370 In Nepal, they have a scanning system for checking. 144 00:10:55,390 --> 00:10:57,970 So this is the first real big test. 145 00:11:17,580 --> 00:11:23,540 I'm trying to stay calm, but inside you're going like... 146 00:11:23,540 --> 00:11:31,620 Next 147 00:11:31,620 --> 00:11:38,340 minute, I've been fine, and I'm off towards 148 00:11:38,340 --> 00:11:39,340 trekking. 149 00:11:46,060 --> 00:11:51,860 And then out of nowhere, these guys just come up to me saying, hands up. 150 00:12:02,260 --> 00:12:03,900 It's searching me everywhere. 151 00:12:05,500 --> 00:12:07,140 I'm thinking, what's going on here? 152 00:12:23,290 --> 00:12:25,010 It's like, on your waist there. 153 00:12:26,650 --> 00:12:28,010 Right, here we go. 154 00:12:30,150 --> 00:12:30,650 I'm 155 00:12:30,650 --> 00:12:37,530 just 156 00:12:37,530 --> 00:12:39,670 thinking, get these bags out of my sight. 157 00:12:41,490 --> 00:12:43,590 And next minute, I've been fine. 158 00:12:50,540 --> 00:12:51,720 They came jolly good. 159 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,800 From Taiwan, I was doing the overnight ferry to Okinawa. 160 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:04,540 The final stage of my drug smuggling. 161 00:13:11,900 --> 00:13:17,180 The bags have passed every test so far and all I've got to do is hold my nerve. 162 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:26,800 Thank you. 163 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:31,420 I'm thinking I'm just going to walk through. 164 00:13:35,380 --> 00:13:36,380 Bag. 165 00:13:38,140 --> 00:13:39,140 Let's go. 166 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,280 There's absolutely no way out of that point. 167 00:13:44,820 --> 00:13:46,800 I'm just thinking I'm done for. 168 00:13:48,460 --> 00:13:50,980 These guys are going to find it. 169 00:13:53,180 --> 00:13:54,660 My heart was beating. 170 00:13:55,630 --> 00:13:56,630 Like mad. 171 00:13:59,190 --> 00:14:03,750 They're going through all the bags. I can see them feeling every single bag. 172 00:14:06,710 --> 00:14:10,210 My inner turmoil is just going, this isn't part of the plan. 173 00:14:12,550 --> 00:14:16,910 Suddenly the head guy said, and that 174 00:14:16,910 --> 00:14:20,870 was me, off. 175 00:14:22,210 --> 00:14:23,750 Off with me bags and... 176 00:14:25,100 --> 00:14:26,100 To the taxi. 177 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,100 When I got in the hotel, I just led there on the bed. 178 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:37,600 I thought, how have I just got through that without cracking up or stuttering? 179 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:44,140 I just couldn't believe how, I hate to say it, but how well I actually did it. 180 00:14:47,020 --> 00:14:48,200 The guy came. 181 00:14:48,420 --> 00:14:49,660 We do the swap. 182 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:51,400 Bag, 183 00:14:51,740 --> 00:14:55,240 money. Next minute, I've got $8 ,000 on me. 184 00:14:56,580 --> 00:15:01,220 I'm thinking, I've got away with it. 185 00:15:04,340 --> 00:15:07,860 And then I'm back on the plane to Thailand and party time again. 186 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:20,060 Back home in England, I was having troubles with access to children. 187 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:23,300 But I'm just living in denial, really. 188 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:30,440 Just drinking and partying made things miles worse. 189 00:15:31,900 --> 00:15:36,040 And what I was running away from, it's always going to be there. 190 00:15:37,300 --> 00:15:42,320 And, you know, it's hard not to get too emotional about it all. 191 00:15:43,660 --> 00:15:49,140 Eventually, my money was running out again. 192 00:15:51,180 --> 00:15:56,380 But then I've got the old option of a quick little trip abroad, easy money, 193 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:57,680 start again. 194 00:15:58,340 --> 00:16:04,060 I got hold of Addy and I said, what's going on with the smuggling? 195 00:16:04,780 --> 00:16:06,060 I wanted back in. 196 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:13,400 There's that saying, you know, you learn from your failures way more than your 197 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:14,400 successes. 198 00:16:15,340 --> 00:16:16,380 And it's so true. 199 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:18,820 But I just didn't want to go home. 200 00:16:21,900 --> 00:16:28,160 Over the next six months, I'm off to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, 201 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:29,860 smuggling cannabis. 202 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:35,140 Compared to the first time, it really was a walk in the park. 203 00:16:36,100 --> 00:16:42,180 I was getting $5 ,000 per trip, bosh, bosh, bosh, either, bank four, 204 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:44,840 but the money. 205 00:16:45,660 --> 00:16:48,200 I was spending it as quickly as I got it. 206 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:56,540 Or reached out to Adi. 207 00:16:56,740 --> 00:16:58,060 Adi, how you been? 208 00:16:58,300 --> 00:17:03,760 And he said it was the option of going back to Japan, which was a lot more 209 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:04,760 money. 210 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,180 Two kilos, one bag. 211 00:17:07,859 --> 00:17:08,659 That's it. 212 00:17:08,660 --> 00:17:10,140 Two kilos, one bag. Yeah. 213 00:17:11,579 --> 00:17:12,539 The deal. 214 00:17:12,540 --> 00:17:13,540 Thank you. 215 00:17:13,819 --> 00:17:18,020 Little did I realize how long it all would go. 216 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:31,920 I flew to Mumbai, picked up the drugs, no problem. 217 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,700 I'm very confident with the bags now because I knew that the cannabis was so 218 00:17:37,700 --> 00:17:38,700 cleverly hidden. 219 00:17:46,260 --> 00:17:51,300 But when I got to Tokyo, the bag didn't come with me. 220 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:59,260 The airport told us the bags were going to be delivered to the hotel tomorrow. 221 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,620 So I'm thinking, surely it's got to be a good thing. Thank you very much. 222 00:18:05,260 --> 00:18:08,360 Well, at least I know I'm going through customs with nothing. 223 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:22,540 My spider senses start to tingle. 224 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:25,100 Something doesn't feel right. 225 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:30,760 I can see another hotel, which is opposite me, a regional hotel. 226 00:18:31,900 --> 00:18:37,480 I think if I can get in that hotel, I can see them bring the bag to the other 227 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:38,480 hotel. 228 00:18:44,980 --> 00:18:50,580 I was just sat there watching for hours and hours and hours for anything dodgy 229 00:18:50,580 --> 00:18:52,240 like the police bringing the bag. 230 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:00,080 I fell asleep. 231 00:19:07,540 --> 00:19:13,580 The following morning, I wake up and I rang up the hotel opposite and I asked 232 00:19:13,580 --> 00:19:17,080 them, has my bag came yet? They said, oh yes, Mr Beattie, your bag's here. 233 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:19,440 Excellent. Right, okay. 234 00:19:19,700 --> 00:19:21,040 I've missed the drop -off. 235 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,900 And I think, right, do I just go and get the bag? 236 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:29,900 It's so strange. 237 00:19:30,980 --> 00:19:34,760 Part of your brain is screaming, going, oh, my God, you're paranoid. You're 238 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,020 looking around, but the whole part of your brain is saying, just that normal, 239 00:19:38,020 --> 00:19:39,020 it's that casual. 240 00:19:41,060 --> 00:19:43,760 I thought, I'm just going to have to go for it. 241 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:54,960 I went into the hotel, got into the lift, got up to the second floor where 242 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:55,960 hotel foyer was. 243 00:19:59,670 --> 00:20:01,430 Everything seemed really normal. 244 00:20:01,750 --> 00:20:08,650 I'm thinking, this is 245 00:20:08,650 --> 00:20:09,650 good. 246 00:20:15,130 --> 00:20:17,510 Time for the bag with the marijuana in it. 247 00:20:18,770 --> 00:20:22,510 I thought, oh, there's nobody jumping on me. 248 00:20:24,410 --> 00:20:26,870 Because I'm here now, surely. 249 00:20:27,690 --> 00:20:29,610 This is the point where they all jump on me. 250 00:20:33,210 --> 00:20:36,530 Thinking, oh, God, I've got away with it. 251 00:20:37,950 --> 00:20:44,730 I got to the lift, a sense of relief, and I press the lift button, and 252 00:20:44,730 --> 00:20:48,470 as I press it, two Japanese guys come out of nowhere. 253 00:20:52,690 --> 00:20:53,990 I go in the lift. 254 00:20:57,340 --> 00:20:58,440 Guys coming with me. 255 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,360 I actually said to them, where are you guys going? 256 00:21:10,020 --> 00:21:12,420 I said, I'm going down. And I pressed down. 257 00:21:31,150 --> 00:21:33,230 The door's open and oh my God. 258 00:21:35,110 --> 00:21:37,270 Some guy comes straight onto me. 259 00:21:37,990 --> 00:21:43,230 Another guy says, what is your name? 260 00:21:44,510 --> 00:21:47,550 Is this your bag? 261 00:21:49,970 --> 00:21:51,650 Yep, this is my bag. 262 00:21:53,550 --> 00:21:54,870 What is in your bag? 263 00:21:58,230 --> 00:21:59,230 That's a close. 264 00:22:04,310 --> 00:22:08,270 It was a little bit taken back by the confession, really. 265 00:22:08,710 --> 00:22:14,470 But I just thought, at this point, I'd be as honest as I can make myself sound. 266 00:22:14,810 --> 00:22:17,870 There was no point in me saying it wasn't my bag. 267 00:22:19,470 --> 00:22:24,150 Inside the lining of the bag, where the board would be, was 2kg of candy. 268 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,960 I'm kind of in shock, even though I knew there was a good chance that this was 269 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:34,960 going to happen. 270 00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:37,660 I felt not so protective. 271 00:22:38,140 --> 00:22:39,140 No, not at all. 272 00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:52,200 They take me to Narita Police Station. 273 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:54,740 Straight away I'm getting interviewed. 274 00:22:58,510 --> 00:23:00,170 I don't know what you're saying. 275 00:23:01,290 --> 00:23:06,050 The police officer wants to know, where did I get the drugs from? Who's your 276 00:23:06,050 --> 00:23:07,050 supplier? 277 00:23:07,790 --> 00:23:13,730 I've already got my story in my head, and I've spoken to Addy about how I 278 00:23:13,730 --> 00:23:15,210 be giving his name in any way. 279 00:23:16,170 --> 00:23:18,610 I don't really know him. All I know is his name is Addy. 280 00:23:19,070 --> 00:23:22,810 And he would laugh about it, saying it's OK, because it's not my real name. 281 00:23:24,130 --> 00:23:25,730 I met him in a bar in Bangkok. 282 00:23:26,940 --> 00:23:29,060 It's from somewhere in the Middle East. 283 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:30,700 He just offered me this deal. 284 00:23:31,060 --> 00:23:32,360 I was desperate. 285 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:33,560 I had no money. 286 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:34,880 I'm really sorry. 287 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:36,500 I won't do it again. 288 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,180 That's all I've got at that point. 289 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:43,720 I felt fairly confident that they believed my story. 290 00:23:44,700 --> 00:23:46,960 So that was quite a big weight off my mind. 291 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,360 It's not the biggest drug bust. 292 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,560 Hopefully I can just get a bit of a slap on the wrist. 293 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,120 Get one year, maybe do six months. 294 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:01,240 I can do that. I can handle that. 295 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,020 They gave me five years, 100 days. 296 00:24:24,590 --> 00:24:28,210 I'm on the way to Puchu prison, and it did sound quite daunting. 297 00:24:30,650 --> 00:24:32,910 I didn't know the language, I didn't know the culture. 298 00:24:33,410 --> 00:24:39,290 I couldn't imagine how I was going to handle living five years in a Japanese 299 00:24:39,290 --> 00:24:40,610 prison. 300 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:02,860 Suddenly, there's two inmates carrying what could only be a dead body. 301 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:10,000 It did freak me out. I'm thinking, God, here we go. 302 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,240 As soon as I get there, I'm made to strip. 303 00:25:33,340 --> 00:25:34,760 I'm in the prison uniform. 304 00:25:36,220 --> 00:25:38,960 All my dignity's gone out the window. 305 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,300 I'm a Japanese prisoner then. 306 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:51,980 It was very sterile. 307 00:25:56,360 --> 00:25:59,500 Quiet. Irremindably more the mental hospital. 308 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:03,400 The coldness. 309 00:26:04,180 --> 00:26:05,760 It was just eerie. 310 00:26:12,180 --> 00:26:16,540 I could feel that silence already, the feeling of strictness. 311 00:26:25,940 --> 00:26:28,760 Nobody spoke English. You weren't allowed to speak English. 312 00:26:32,780 --> 00:26:35,100 They have two really tough guards. 313 00:26:38,460 --> 00:26:40,440 Tanto -san, he was the big boss. 314 00:26:43,620 --> 00:26:45,460 He had that intimidating look. 315 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:47,120 He was a lot more stern. 316 00:26:50,140 --> 00:26:54,960 Each prisoner's given you a number, and you were constantly being shouted at. 317 00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:58,580 Bango! Your number. 318 00:27:02,980 --> 00:27:05,960 And as they're getting to me, I'm thinking, oh, my God. 319 00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:08,020 I do not want to mess this up. 320 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:21,900 My number, 4 ,328. 321 00:27:28,220 --> 00:27:30,780 I could not get my head around it. 322 00:27:35,820 --> 00:27:42,780 My God, it 323 00:27:42,780 --> 00:27:44,480 was tough, really tough going. 324 00:27:48,700 --> 00:27:52,680 I had to do two -week training with these other prisoners. 325 00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:58,760 And we're all learning how to act and behave in the prison. 326 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:04,440 They had a big notebook of all these rules. 327 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:08,780 And they were saying, I have to learn these. 328 00:28:16,100 --> 00:28:20,200 It's impossible to go straight into that system without... 329 00:28:20,700 --> 00:28:25,300 Making a mistake and going to punishment, which is extreme isolation 330 00:28:25,300 --> 00:28:32,060 moment. If you don't follow the rules, you 331 00:28:32,060 --> 00:28:33,060 go here. 332 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,780 It wasn't like any other prison I'd have heard of. 333 00:29:10,220 --> 00:29:16,280 I realised very quickly that this Japanese system was all about control 334 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:17,280 rules. 335 00:29:21,020 --> 00:29:24,880 For many years, really, I've lived a crazy, wild life. 336 00:29:25,220 --> 00:29:30,980 And nowadays, no more fun, no more... ..no more anything. 337 00:29:32,750 --> 00:29:38,210 They're teaching you how to walk from A to B. Your thumb has to go down that 338 00:29:38,210 --> 00:29:39,350 side like that. 339 00:29:40,310 --> 00:29:43,570 When somebody else is coming the other way, you stop, 340 00:29:44,490 --> 00:29:45,710 turn, face the wall, 341 00:29:46,490 --> 00:29:47,490 close your eyes. 342 00:29:52,570 --> 00:29:59,310 There was absolutely 343 00:29:59,310 --> 00:30:01,550 no extras, no cigarettes. 344 00:30:02,510 --> 00:30:04,490 There was zero phone calls. 345 00:30:07,130 --> 00:30:12,730 Which, in a normal prison system, is how everybody gets through. For us, there 346 00:30:12,730 --> 00:30:13,730 was just no option. 347 00:30:16,470 --> 00:30:21,230 Also, you're not allowed to speak other than a whisper, really. 348 00:30:22,810 --> 00:30:26,630 If you spoke when you weren't allowed to speak, you were off to punishment. 349 00:30:32,750 --> 00:30:34,230 Takes a while to get used to. 350 00:30:35,190 --> 00:30:38,750 I can assure you of that. 351 00:30:42,810 --> 00:30:46,770 I was permanently starving. 352 00:30:48,830 --> 00:30:54,250 The food, whatever it was, there wasn't enough. 353 00:30:55,610 --> 00:31:00,670 The dinners tasted pretty good, and in many ways it made it worse, because... 354 00:31:00,940 --> 00:31:04,140 I was used to being a big, fat, greedy Westerner. 355 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:14,740 The guy opposite me has left a little bit. 356 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,360 I look at him and say, can I have it, please? 357 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:22,580 And he's gone, OK. 358 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,420 I tried to swap really quick. 359 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:32,980 Well, one of the officers has seen me. 360 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,820 They can really just feel like stealing that little bit of food. 361 00:31:40,780 --> 00:31:43,820 Out of nowhere, there's two of these officers. 362 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:48,780 They take me away. 363 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,440 This is going to be my first test of Japanese punishment. 364 00:32:20,909 --> 00:32:26,830 I'm putting this little wooden box, almost like the size of the telephone 365 00:32:27,470 --> 00:32:29,330 It's just about sitting here. 366 00:32:34,590 --> 00:32:36,230 It's very quiet and... 367 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:37,760 claustrophobic. 368 00:32:41,460 --> 00:32:42,780 I'm obviously very worried. 369 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:47,240 I'm thinking this is the start of the dreaded month's punishment. 370 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:02,020 And part of my brain is going, oh my God, how am I going to get through this? 371 00:33:03,540 --> 00:33:04,640 Oh my God. 372 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,240 It's hard to say how long you're actually in there. 373 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:14,440 Losing all sense of time. 374 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:20,420 Well, they're like days later. 375 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:27,100 Tantor stands, opens the door. 376 00:33:28,020 --> 00:33:32,040 He says, Stephen, do not ever do that again. 377 00:33:32,340 --> 00:33:33,340 Again. 378 00:33:33,820 --> 00:33:35,940 So I have to play the submissive game. 379 00:33:36,380 --> 00:33:37,380 Never. 380 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:39,960 Oh, I didn't realise. I'm sorry. 381 00:33:40,220 --> 00:33:42,060 I'll never ever do this again. 382 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:43,640 Sorry, sorry. 383 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:46,740 He said, I'm going to get you back to the prison. 384 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,180 I realised that this time I was lucky. 385 00:33:50,900 --> 00:33:52,060 Just don't do it again. 386 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,600 I felt very small and lost in the whole system. 387 00:34:05,420 --> 00:34:10,699 There was so much in the not knowing what the hell is going to happen next. 388 00:34:11,219 --> 00:34:12,340 That's very scary. 389 00:34:17,260 --> 00:34:20,860 After six months, I got a letter. 390 00:34:24,699 --> 00:34:27,460 And it was a huge thing. It was a massive thing. 391 00:34:27,940 --> 00:34:29,460 It was from my sisters. 392 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:32,440 They were worried sick about me. 393 00:34:35,210 --> 00:34:37,070 You know, at the end of the day, I am the baby brother. 394 00:34:37,770 --> 00:34:40,889 You know, I like to think of myself as a big, tough guy, but really, I'm just, 395 00:34:40,909 --> 00:34:41,909 you know, the baby brother. 396 00:34:48,610 --> 00:34:54,710 I regret what it did to my family, massively. 397 00:34:55,770 --> 00:34:57,170 Yeah, I really miss my children. 398 00:34:58,930 --> 00:35:02,970 I don't mind being emotional, but I feel I can't even speak. It gets that 399 00:35:02,970 --> 00:35:03,970 emotional. 400 00:35:05,070 --> 00:35:09,310 I don't really realise how mentally strong I would have to be to get through 401 00:35:09,310 --> 00:35:10,310 with my sentence. 402 00:35:17,470 --> 00:35:20,050 My first winter was so cold. 403 00:35:20,810 --> 00:35:22,570 I've never known cold like it. 404 00:35:25,390 --> 00:35:30,490 At shower time, we all went together in a group. 405 00:35:31,230 --> 00:35:33,930 You have to point to the razor. 406 00:35:34,590 --> 00:35:39,370 say the number, then they say yes, take the razor and go. 407 00:35:42,010 --> 00:35:43,670 I'm absolutely freezing. 408 00:35:44,270 --> 00:35:48,050 I just want to get shaved. I want to feel that warm water on me. 409 00:35:51,310 --> 00:35:52,310 Hiya. 410 00:35:54,410 --> 00:35:55,410 Bongo here. 411 00:35:58,390 --> 00:35:59,930 I don't know what's happening to you guys. 412 00:36:01,670 --> 00:36:03,090 He's shouting, Bongo. 413 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,420 I'm struggling how to say it. It was only 79. 414 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:17,840 And he's repeating, bango, bango, bango, and 415 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:18,880 I'm just trying to pan him. 416 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:30,180 I'm saying 79 is saying in Japanese. 417 00:36:33,250 --> 00:36:34,770 And he's screaming at me. 418 00:36:36,470 --> 00:36:37,610 Very aggressive. 419 00:36:37,950 --> 00:36:39,750 He wants me to react. 420 00:36:41,730 --> 00:36:45,550 He's trying to push me as far as he possibly can. 421 00:36:46,950 --> 00:36:49,890 But I didn't want to break the rules. 422 00:36:51,210 --> 00:36:54,830 I could feel the emotion coming. I was almost in tears. 423 00:36:55,750 --> 00:36:57,170 I'm going there, I'm cracking. 424 00:37:04,230 --> 00:37:07,710 I just think, don't hit him, don't do anything, but what am I going to do? 425 00:37:08,550 --> 00:37:13,090 My head's going here, and I lost it. 426 00:37:17,690 --> 00:37:21,110 I just start washing, and I know the whistle's been blown. 427 00:37:22,470 --> 00:37:25,530 Everybody knows there that I'm in trouble. 428 00:37:39,050 --> 00:37:42,130 After a few minutes later, I'm in a punishment cell. 429 00:37:47,650 --> 00:37:54,250 You have to sit down, 430 00:37:54,410 --> 00:38:00,050 hands on your knees, eight hours a day, eyes open. 431 00:38:03,790 --> 00:38:07,250 Only going to the toilet when they tell you. 432 00:38:15,510 --> 00:38:18,870 Sit there and just think about basically what you've done wrong. 433 00:38:20,910 --> 00:38:22,750 Complete isolation. 434 00:38:25,050 --> 00:38:26,150 For one month. 435 00:38:30,890 --> 00:38:36,130 If you do anything wrong in that time, you go to the toilet where you're not 436 00:38:36,130 --> 00:38:40,010 supposed to, or you relax, they will say, right. 437 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:42,840 Your month starts again from now. 438 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,400 I knew one inmate did five years in there. 439 00:38:52,820 --> 00:38:55,540 I'm thinking, how am I going to get through this? 440 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,300 The lowest, darkest moment was... 441 00:39:10,060 --> 00:39:14,940 The first few days is complete silence. 442 00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:25,320 I'm constantly in a battle of working out how I can mentally get through it. 443 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,420 I'm just dying for anything to happen. 444 00:39:37,020 --> 00:39:41,850 The thought of Kicking off with a guard and even getting beat up. 445 00:39:44,150 --> 00:39:45,310 Sounds like fun. 446 00:39:51,190 --> 00:39:54,630 But it's a no -no because if you kick off, you're back to square one. 447 00:39:59,430 --> 00:40:06,290 Mentally, like breaking down, I really thought, wow, I'm losing 448 00:40:06,290 --> 00:40:07,290 the plot. 449 00:40:11,500 --> 00:40:17,500 It was either this was going to break me, or I was going to find a way how I 450 00:40:17,500 --> 00:40:18,500 get through this. 451 00:40:21,940 --> 00:40:22,460 The 452 00:40:22,460 --> 00:40:30,240 way 453 00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:36,960 I think I can get through this system is just to comply, not ultimately give 454 00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:38,520 in, but take control. 455 00:40:41,900 --> 00:40:44,160 I've always wanted to be in the Army when I was younger. 456 00:40:45,060 --> 00:40:49,960 I wanted to do that test, what the Marines go through and the FAS. 457 00:40:51,740 --> 00:40:56,000 And basically, I think at this point, the future is like being in the Marines, 458 00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:57,080 being in the FAS. 459 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:03,200 I'll do it to the best of my ability, and that way, that's how I'm going to 460 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,800 through this, is just be a staunch British soldier. 461 00:41:21,710 --> 00:41:28,690 After six weeks, trapped away in this dark, and the next minute you feel the 462 00:41:28,690 --> 00:41:29,690 sun. 463 00:41:33,410 --> 00:41:34,490 Oh, my God. 464 00:41:36,350 --> 00:41:40,190 I'm not religious, but that's the nearest I've got to feeling spiritual. 465 00:41:46,150 --> 00:41:52,150 gave me a lot of time to reflect, a lot of time to think about where it had gone 466 00:41:52,150 --> 00:41:54,950 wrong in life to end up in this situation. 467 00:41:58,110 --> 00:42:02,710 I actually wrote in my first diary the Bible according to Steve Beattie. 468 00:42:04,570 --> 00:42:06,010 Everything's going to get better. 469 00:42:07,370 --> 00:42:09,190 It's only up and up from now. 470 00:42:10,670 --> 00:42:12,970 And it's all basically just positive words. 471 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:15,440 I'd repeat this to myself every morning. 472 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:18,720 This experience will make me a better person. 473 00:42:19,260 --> 00:42:21,020 I'll use this time to my advantage. 474 00:42:21,460 --> 00:42:23,320 I'll be strong, make a new life. 475 00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:32,700 I've been in prison for almost two years. 476 00:42:36,020 --> 00:42:41,660 Then one day, Tantosan came to see me, says, Stephen, says, tomorrow. 477 00:42:42,230 --> 00:42:43,230 You're going to the airport. 478 00:42:44,810 --> 00:42:46,170 I'm like, oh, my God. 479 00:42:47,830 --> 00:42:48,910 I'm going home. 480 00:42:51,470 --> 00:42:53,030 Oh, my God, I'm going home. 481 00:42:54,390 --> 00:42:57,770 Hands off, Sam. He looked at me and he gave me a bit of a well done. 482 00:43:00,750 --> 00:43:05,990 I just wanted to go home, really, and sort out the family problems. 483 00:43:17,420 --> 00:43:19,860 I started doing voluntary work for prisoners abroad. 484 00:43:21,300 --> 00:43:26,440 They're an amazing charity that help the British people locked up in all 485 00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:28,080 different countries all over the world. 486 00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:33,180 What they do, it really is truly heartwarming. 487 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:36,500 You know, it felt good to give something back. 488 00:43:38,020 --> 00:43:40,860 I truly do regret what I've done to my children. 489 00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:48,160 But looking back... I definitely respect the Japanese prison system, all the 490 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:51,420 discipline. They're trying to rehabilitate you. 491 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:56,240 I can assure you, I came out there as a better person.