Burrowes update: more jail time possible!

PHUKET CITY: Simon Burrowes may have to spend a night in a cell at the Phuket City Immigration Office while his case is processed, the Gazette has learned.

An officer at immigration said Mr Burrowes should be able to leave the country tomorrow after “some paper work” is completed.

This might mean he will have to spend a night in jail, the officer said.

Thai jails are not unfamiliar to Mr Burrowes, who spent three weeks in Phuket Provincial Prison after losing his temper with an Immigration officer at Phuket International Airport.

Mr Burrowes was due to fly out of Phuket today at 3pm after receiving a one-way ticket home to the UK, paid for by an anonymous Thai benefactor.

When he reached Phuket Airport to catch the flight, he was told that some unspecified “additional inquiries” would need to be made.

He was then driven to Phuket City Immigration Office, where he remains.

A foreign gentleman is understood to be attempting to secure Mr Burrowes’s release today.

For our previous report, click here.

Immigration officials would not permit a Gazette reporter to interview him and the officer in charge of the case at Immigration was reportedly “not available for comment”.

Martin Carpenter, Honorary British Consul in Phuket, said he was aware of the situation.

“We will provide Mr Burrowes with any assistance that we can to make sure he can get back to the UK,” he said.

“The Immigration department are probably just following procedures,” he said. “I don’t even know if the Immigration department knew if Mr Burrowes was actually leaving this afternoon.”

The consulate had not received a court report following the Burrowes case and did not know his exact immigration status, he said.

“It is up to the individual and their legal counsel to understand exactly what his immigration status is,” he added.

The Gazette has been unable to confirm whether the latest detention is related to unpaid overstay fines. Mr Burrowes earlier told the Gazette that he thought the public prosecutor in his case had managed to get a waiver of his 20,000 baht in overstay fines.

— Dan Waites & Gazette Reporters