Free Billy Burton

[Lee85 44]

In 1992 Billy Burton, aged 29, made the biggest mistake of his life. He had been travelling the World, got into extreme financial difficulty and made the terrible decision to carry cannabis out of Manila.

 

Billy was carrying 12lbs of cannabis and was arrested at Manila airport and was subsequently given a life term of 30 years. Initially he was informed that he could expect to serve eight years before being considered for parole; however before he reached eligibility to apply, the Filipino government enforced an embargo on parole for all drug offenders, even if sentencing had taken place prior to the ruling. Retrospective increases in sentences for all drug related offences, mean that Billy will now not be due for release until 2032, by which time he will be 70.

 

Billy fully accepts his wrong doing. Now aged 48, he has spent the past eighteen years simply surviving. He committed a crime and does not try to excuse himself, he fully accepts that this was wrong; but after 18 long years, we his supporters, feel he has paid the price. By comparison, if he had committed a similar offence in the UK, he could have expected to have served five years.

 

In a recent letter from Billy published in the Wetherby News, he said:

 

“For my disrespect, lack of decency and failure to uphold moral standards when I committed a crime 18 years ago, I have only regrets. There are no excuses. I do not think however that only bad people do bad things; sometimes good people also do bad thingsâ€

 

 

 

petition:

 

http://www.petition.co.uk/free-billy-burton

[Lee85 44]

more about him:

 

http://www.freebillyburton.com/

[dowlo18 1]

signed

[mossyh07 64]

Dont do the crime if you can't do the time, especially in countries that will dicipline you like the asian ones

 

[riohog 5,701]

lucky for him it wasnt thialand mandatory death penalty ,for drug smuggling!!

Edited December 21, 2010 by riohog

[AL BUNDY 45]

can understand your smpathy for your mate ,but all you here about is soft sentences given out here .mabye if this country had some backbone and dished out sentences like that this would be a better place .

[FightTheBan 1,147]

Agree with the above.

 

Live by the sword die by the sword.

 

He was a big boy when he decided to do it so feck him.

 

FTB

[Appleseed 27]

Tough Shit. He knew full well the penalty if he was caught. How many times do we hear people here complaining about foreigners getting away with crime in the UK. Do the crime do the time.

[readie 184]

can understand your smpathy for your mate ,but all you here about is soft sentences given out here .mabye if this country had some backbone and dished out sentences like that this would be a better place .

well said

[gnasher16 30,025]

Tricky one this,some folk are lucky and some are not ....its the difference between getting caught on one side and doing 5 years or getting caught on the other side and doing 30 years !

 

As an adult human being you weigh these odds up before you play the game and hope luck falls your way.....i have every sympathy with the fella as he had terribly bad luck,but he made judgement before he played the game and lost.....thats life unfortunately.

[christian71 3,187]

30 years is a long time but persnally i have no sympathy a lot of lives a fu(ked up

due to drugs cant see many people who have had family on drugs, there house robbed by

druggies signing it as said above he new what he was doing

[littlefish 578]

Tough Shit. He knew full well the penalty if he was caught. How many times do we hear people here complaining about foreigners getting away with crime in the UK. Do the crime do the time.

 

That just about sums it up

[BI9JOHNNY 25]

drugs inflict terrible pain on millions of decent peoples lives feck him and happy christmas

[Dan_Mercian 27]

On the plus side, he's nearly half way through! High five on that!

[artic 595]

I've just signed to request he stays in even more.

 

There is no What If's when dealing in drugs.

 

Fool.