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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Drug smuggler back from Philippines
Yorkshire Evening Post Wednesday 04 Apr 2012 William Burton, known as Billy, was sentenced to 30 years in jail in 1992 after being caught trying to smuggle 12lb of cannabis out of the country. He received a pardon from the Philippine president Benigno Aquino III in December after campaigns were set up in the UK to secure his release on the grounds of his deteriorating health. Mr Burton, 48, from Rufforth, was released on the condition that he returns home, never returns to the Philippines and pays a 20,000 peso (£294) fine. He is now back on British soil, according to the charity Fair Trials International. Fair Trials chief executive Jago Russell said: "After almost 20 years in jail in the Philippines, there will no doubt be a long hard road to rehabilitation ahead for Billy Burton. "We wish him all the best and are relieved that his long ordeal in the Philippines has finally come to an end, and that he is able to get the medical treatment he needs." Mr Burton, who was born with shortened arms and twisted hands, was 29 when he got into financial difficulties while travelling the world. He decided to smuggle drugs out of the Philippines but was arrested at Manila airport on December 26 1992 as he tried to board a flight to Australia. Campaigners said he accepted what he had done was wrong and recently wrote a letter to the Wetherby News in which 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 things." http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/regional-news/drug-smuggler-back-from-philippines-1-4414218
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