# 104 DAVID FLETCHER CLOSE TO DEATH

When I first met David Fletcher in jail he told me he was innocent; that he had not raped Yang Dany. I told him that this is what most criminals in jail say; that they are innocent. I told him that I would not necessarily believe anything he said to me and that I would look for evidenced of his guilt. He said, “That’s fine by me.”

He told me also in this first meeting that he had passed up opportunities to buy his way out of jail. $20,000 was the price he had been quoted. “I will either walk out of here an innocent man or be carried out feet first.”

David Fletcher is a proud and stubborn man. He would rather die with his boots on, on his own terms, than either rot in jail or bribe his way out. It had been suggested to him, given his age, that he could write to the King and ask for a pardon. “For what!?” he exclaimed, indignant, “I am not guilty.”

David Fletcher has insisted all along that he is not guilty of having raped Yang Dany. Try as I did, I could find no evidence in court documents or elsewhere that he raped this young woman. A doctor’s report for  the court said Yang Dany was a virgin, her hymen intact, after the alleged rapes. Yang Dany said the rapes had not occurred. So did her mother, Kheang Sekun. This was enough for me to begin to advocate for David Fletcher’s right to a fair trial. I was convinced of his innocence but it had to be a Cambodian court that arrived at this conclusion; a Cambodian court that was not doing the bidding of Samleang Seila and Action Pour les Enfants.

I have written over 100 blog entries in an attempt to secure David Fletcher a fair trial. I have failed, to date, to achieve my goal. For as long as there was some light at the end of the tunnel David Fletcher was prepared to delay his decision to end his life on his own terms.

I was in two minds about Mr Fletcher’s suicide plans. On the one hand I understood how and why, at age 70, a 10 year sentence in a Cambodian jail was essentially a death sentence. On the other hand, an optimistic streak in me thought that there must he some way of mustering support for him in light of the overwhelming evidence of his innocence.  My optimism, I realized, was a luxury I could afford as I was not in jail; was not in hell. How would my ‘optimism’ stand up in the face of five years in jail for a crime that I had not committed? How would my ‘optimism’ stand up in the face of, my own embassy’s, my own government’s refusal to supply me with any support at all?

A week ago, in the middle of the night,  David Fletcher confided in a friend that he had decided to take the Midnight Express; to kill himself. He did not confide this in me because he had, on more than one occasion, told me that he would not kill himself for as long as he believed that my efforts on his behalf might bear fruit – even if that ‘fruit’ was nothing more than a fair trial. David shared with me the belief (naïve of both of us, probably) that in a fair trial in which facts, evidence and truth trumped the blindingly obvious lies of NGOs such as Action Pour les Enfants, he must surely be found to be innocent of the charge of rape. His key witness would testify that she had not been raped and a doctor’s report would support her statement. It was a lay down mazaire! Or so we thought.

When David Fletcher arrived at the conclusion that the odds were so stacked against him that there would be no fair trial, that he had been abandoned by the British government, he decided to end his life. His best laid plans did not reach fruition and, despite his desire to die with dignity and of his own volition, he is now in hospital, in a coma from which he may not emerge. He may achieve his goal but it is not going to be the easy death he had in mind. It may even be that his body, in defiance of his wishes, will refuse to die. I hope so.

I have always, in my advocacy of Mr Fletcher, asked him if this or that blog entry was OK by him to publish. Invariably he would tell me that he trusted me and that I could write what I liked about him; that he had no secrets to hide.

For a few days now I have pondered how best to deal with David Fletcher’s  suicide attempt. Would David want me to make it public? Or keep it private? I suspect that his response would be, “Fuck it, it’s the truth. I have nothing to hide. Publish it.”

I am not sure if this is the right decision. Perhaps there is no right decision. Time will tell:

Phillip Hammond

Foreign Secretary

Parliamentary House of Commons

London

SW1A                                                                                                   

26^th March 2015

Dear Mr Hammond

As I was in the process of writing my 36^th letter to you on 23^rd March, David Fletcher attempting to end his life.

When I discovered this I wrote immediately to Nigel Eustace at the British Embassy in Phnom Penh.

Dear Nigel

I wonder if you are aware that David Fletcher attempted to take his life yesterday?

The information I have is 2nd and 3rd hand as I am in Australia but it would appear that, after Mr Fletcher's failed suicide attempt, he was taken to hospital and treated for a 'heart attack'.

I have been unable to acquire any further information from the prison and wonder if you, and the British Embassy in Phnom Penh, have any further knowledge of Mr Fletcher's well-being.

If you could keep me posted and pass my best wishes on to Mr Fletcher I would appreciate it.

best wishes

I did not receive any response to this email so, five or six hours later, wrote another email to Nigel Eustace.

Dear Nigel

As your business day in Cambodia comes to a close I have received no response from you to my email of five hours ago. Perhaps you are not in the office today. Perhaps you are on holidays!

I will copy this to others in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the hope that, for a change, someone may respond to me.

It has been confirmed that David Fletcher has survived his suicide attempt and is in hospital and apparently will survive. Beyond this I know little other than that the official reason for his being in hospital is that he had a 'heart attack'. He did not. Mr Fletcher has been talking for a long time about his desire, if he could see no hope at all of receiving a fair trial, of ending his life on his own terms - with his boots on and dressed in his own (and not prison) clothes.

Perhaps the FCO will want to go along with this 'heart attack' fiction also, given that you and all others who have thwarted Mr Fletcher in his quest for a fair trial, will want to absolve yourselves of any responsibility for creating (and maintaining) the sense of hopelessness that pervades his life and led him to wish to end it.

All of you at the FCO know that David Fletcher cannot possibly be guilty of rape and yet you have done nothing at all to assist him in the quest for a fair trial. Indeed you, Nigel, along with your co-workers right up through the ranks to the Foreign Secretary, Mr Phillip Hammond, have done all you can to prevent Mr Fletcher from being given a fair trial - up to and including the destruction of evidence, in the form of his passport.

Mr Fletcher is a proud and stubborn man and now that he has demonstrated that he does not make idle threats I have no doubt but that he will make another attempt on his life when he is in a position to do so. I doubt that he would fail a second time around.

Mr Fletcher's death would be most convenient for the FCO as it would bring this sorry drama to an end for all those, including yourself, who have been complicit in seeing to it that an innocent man remains in jail.

I hope that Mr Fletcher does not give you the satisfaction of dying but that he finds the courage to stay alive and to have his day in court - both in Cambodia and the United Kingdom.

Whilst Mr Fletcher attempted to die by his own hand, he had many assistants - including yourself and your fellow FCO co-workers. One of those who, with malicious forethought, sought to destroy Mr Fletcher was Scott Neeson. I have sent a note to Scott about his involvement in the destruction of Mr Fletcher's life. 

Scott will not respond to the email below - just as none of the others who have played a role (large or small) in the destruction of Mr Fletcher's life (including yourself) respond to questions put to them about their involvement.

Dear Scott

David Fletcher tried to kill himself yesterday. It would seem that he did not succeed.

It was Mr Fletcher’s choice to end his life but his choice, like all life choices, was made in a context.

Context: David Fletcher was sentenced to 10 years in jail, without the benefit of a trial, for a crime that he could not have committed – unless, that is, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court judges were correct in their assertion that Yang Dany’s hymen must have grown back after he had twice ‘brutally raped’ her.

Context: For two years prior to his arrest in Thailand various NGOs (SISHA, CEOP, APLE) put a lot of time and energy into finding evidence that David Fletcher had been ‘grooming young girls’ and worse. No such evidence was found.

Context: A week or so before Mr Fletcher’s arrest, the now thoroughly discredited journalist Andrew Drummond quoted you in an article he write as follows:

“There is little doubt Fletcher devotes his time to grooming young girls….The fact is these children can be bought. It’s difficult to stop it. The British Embassy have been told about Fletcher. Many organizations have files on him, but nothing has happened. If you can get this guy sent packing you are doing a service to the children here.”

I have asked you this question many times now, Scott, but will ask it again:

“Did you have, in 2010, any evidence at all that David Fletcher was ‘grooming young girls’?”

Quite apart from this statement being defamatory if not true it is one that played a significant role in the trial by media that occurred in relation to David Fletcher. Your ‘grooming’ allegation, picked up and amplified by Peter Hogan and Khmer440, turned rumour, innuendo and scuttlebutt into accepted wisdom and David Fletcher became fair game for internet trolls and NGOs such as CEOP, SISHA and APLE seeking a pedophile scalp that would assist them in their money-raising activities.

The role that you personally played in the destruction of David Fletcher’s reputation was and remains a significant one.

Given that Yang Dany and her mother both insist that David Fletcher did not rape Yang Dany and given that there is no evidence that he did , the only crime that David Fletcher could credibly be guilty of is your allegation that he was ‘grooming young girls’.

In the interests of justice I ask you yet again, Scott:

“Do you have any evidence, other than rumour and scuttlebutt, that David Fletcher was ‘grooming young girls’ at the time you told both Andrew Drummond and the British Embassy in Cambodia that he was?”

A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer is all that is required, Scott.

cheers

James

If you are capable of empathy for a fellow human being, Nigel, for a fellow citizen of the United Kingdom, please at least make a phone call to the hospital and enquire after Mr Fletcher's well-being. Please stop doing everything in your power to thwart Mr Fletcher's right to a fair trial. Please provide Mr Fletcher with the documents promised to him in Jan this year and provide him with at least of a glimmer of hope that he can and will have his day in court.

best wishes

I did not receive any response to my email of two days ago – from Nigel Eustace or anyone else at the British Embassy in Phnom Penh so, concerned for Mr Fletcher’s well-being, I have flown to Cambodia and visited Mr Fletcher in hospital this morning. He is in a coma and his prognosis is not good. It is highly likely that he will die.

You have, Mr Hammond, along with so many at the FCO, been complicit not just in turning a blind eye to the fate of a citizen of the United Kingdom whom you know to be innocent of the crime of rape; you have been complicit it doing all you could to prevent Mr Fletcher from being given the fair trial he deserves and that he has been asking for close to five years now.

You are a disgrace, Mr Hammond, as are all those working for you that have been involved in this matter.

best wishes

James Ricketson