Forget You Had a Daughter: Doing Time in the 'Bangkok Hilton'

by Sandra Gregory and Michael Tierney

Book Overview

Forget You Had a Daughter is the extraordinary story of an ordinary British woman who made a mistake that changed the rest of her life. Sandra Gregory seemed to have the perfect life in Bangkok--until... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1904132278
• ISBN13: 9781904132271
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.4" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Read in a day...

I saw her story on National Geographic's "Locked Up Abroad" and did a google search the next day to learn more about her story. I found she had written a memoir and ordered the book. I read it within 24 hours - it was very interesting and as the others mention, feel it should be required reading by students before travelling abroad. I myself am naive in assuming the best in people and probably could have easily found myself in her shoes had I travelled that early in my life.

A Heartbreaking and a Painfully Honest Memoir...

Sandra Gregory takes us deep inside life in a Thailand women's prison and then into the Durham prison of England. Life was terrible for this woman who was arrested for drug trafficking a very small amount of heroin in her vagina. She truly did not deserve such a long and harrowing sentence. She is a hero in my opinion for having survived such an incredibly soul-destroying incarceration. God bless Sandy for writing such a critically-needed memoir. Her book should be on everybody's required reading list, especially high school and college-age kids. They could benefit from Sandy's horrible experience, and might be deterred from doing the same. Thank God she finally got released, but how terrible was her suffering in the mean time! A truly sad but unforgettable read.

A Story of Survival

This was a rather timely read given the current situation in South East Asia with Sharpelle Corby and the Bali 9. In this book, Gregory tells the story of how she set out from Britain to spend 8 weeks in Thailand, accompanying a friend of a friend she had no previous acquaintance with. Gregory loved Thailand so much that she decided to stay on, until she became seriously ill and distraught over the political situation at the time. Having no money to return to Britain and too stubborn to ask her family for financial support, she 'serendipitously' re-encounters her former travelling companion who offers her one thousand pounds to smuggle a small quantity of heroin for him. Desperately ill and under the impression her acquaintence has 'fixed' things at customs, she agrees. She is, of course, caught. The story describes her time at Lard Yao, known worldwide as the 'Bangkok Hilton' and the shocking conditions she was forced to endure. Following her transfer to a British prison, Gregory continues her tale, drawing contrasts between the penal systems of the two countries, and finding Britain to be the worse of the two. Of particular interest were Gregory's encounters with some very notorious offenders such as Rosemary West. She also speaks of the shadow of Myra Hindley in two of the prisons she was incarcerated in. I actually found the second part of the book, where Gregory was in British prisons to be more horrifying than her descriptions of Thai prisons. Gregory's book is very readable, honest and pulls no punches. However, at the end, you realise that Gregory's book is not so much about her physical survival, but her emotional survival and the evolution of her soul.

Crossing paths.

Having lived in Thailand for a gratifying 5 years, I am familiar with everything she describes and feels for the country. Thailand is a stunning country known as the "land of smiles" but numerous people don't realize that behind those smiles there is an entire different side to Thailand. That life I like most people have never gone through and do not realize how hideous it is. That is what this book is about, a book filled with fact stating the hideous side of Thailand. I was traumatized by some of the events not realizing that such a beautiful country has such a dark side too it when crossing the path of a good person to breaking the rules. I think it is definitely worthwhile reading, it touches your heart so much because you realize that as we speak about the harsh life in prison there are people out there in those hideous prisons which animals control who think they are gods and the prisoners are slaves. Even though Sandra Gregory made a huge mistake the reason for such was so understandable. Even though she smuggled the drugs I think she is a great and caring person helping others realize that you should think twice before smuggling drugs. This is one of the unsurpassed books I have ever read, it isn't an enjoyable book, where you can laugh, it is depressing and sad but so realistic because you know this is a true story, which a human being has been through. Some of the events disgust you but you continue to read because the book has so much gratitude to it.

Planing on doing some serious traveling? Read this!

I picked up this book on a whim while traveling throughout Southeast Asia last month. Having heard various horror stories about the horrendous prisons there, Gregory's book perked my interest.If you have read Warren Fellow's similar account, read this one! Unlike Fellows, Gregory fully admits her guilt, still finds beauty in Thailand and its people, and was honest about what she thought she deserved. I had a lot of sympathy for her.Like many young travelers, Gregory was naive, sick, desperate to get home, and broke. She agreed to be a mule for smugling drugs out of Thailand. Her reward: 1000 pounds, more than enough to get her back home to the UK. It is not uncommon for young travelers to do Southeast Asia on a VERY limited budget. Many people set out for a year or more at a time. Though SE Asia is very inexpensive compared to the West, funds can run out. Or even if that is not the case, some naive travelers see smuggling (drugs, gems, silk, etc) as an easy way to make some good money. I think that ANYONE heading out to Southeast Asia to backpack through the area MUST read this book. It is a harsh reminder that no matter how easy transporting drugs may seem, it is simply not worth the risk. Many people think "that could never happen to me," but if you read Gregory's story, you quickly realize that it can and does. Gregory was not a repeat smuggler. She had never done anything like that in her life. And she really paid for her crime. There are MANY farang in Thai prisons who were young, naive, first time mules like Gregory. Gregory hopes that her horror story will convince travelers, like herself, NOT do try anything like that. All around a good (though horrifying) read that portrayed a VERY different side of the same country, even the same city (Bangkok), that I had been enjoying.