tv Locked Up Abroad MSNBC May 7, 2016 5:00pm-6:01pm PDT
5:00 pm
these men are heroes. malcolm winfell gave his life for somebody he doesn't know, in order to protect her. >> a live briefing in montgomery county, some details from the shooting that killed three people, and left three injured. we'll continue with more, stay with us with us on msnbc. it just sounded like most of the other jobs that i have had ever done. it was a new club in the caribbean. >> there something not right here. >> you are taking drugs back to england. >> and putting them in a shampoo bottle. >> it is ludicrous. it is mental. and in prison in the caribbean for 20 years, and good luck with
5:01 pm
that. >> after what i was just going through. >> the englishman will be dead within two weeks. i was a pole dancer, and what we used to call table dances. basically just dancing and having fun and a laugh with the guys in the audience. i love music. i love dancing, and the pay was excellent. one night, this girl, she just came and asked if i was interested in doing a job abroad. >> god yeah. what else? >> and she mentioned it would be guyana, and south america, and
5:02 pm
the money would be very good. i am thinking, yeah, i could do with a little bit of a holiday to be honest. i didn't say yes straight to away, but i said that i would probably do it after i spoke to david. >> hey, darling. >> hello, love. >> when i got home that night, david was still up. >> you know i have been offered a job. >> and she said she had a job offer, and pole dancing and teaching the locals like at the gym. i said, not a chance. i said no way am i letting you go to south america, not in a million years. we didn't argue about it, but i said, no, jayne, it is not happening. >> i was angry a little bit, because i had it in my head that i was going off to the caribbean. he can be stubborn, but i usually get my own way, so i
5:03 pm
thought that i would be able to talk him around. ♪ the next time i was working in the club, the girl introduced me to this tall black guy who said, hello, i'm mr. biggs, pleased to meet you. >> beautiful woman you are. >> thank you very much. >> you are welcome. >> he was very polite and charming, and he even said to me, it was a new club in guyana that needed to teach some of the local girls, so i would be teaching them how to do the pole dancing, and just doing a show a night myself. >> so you teach the dance. >> and relax in the day, and then work at night. to me, there was nothing unusual. i did mention him that david was not so happy about me going on my own, and so i asked if it would be possible for david to come with me? >> i don't think it is a problem
5:04 pm
at all. >> oh, really? that sounds brilliant. so i said that i will have david come meet with him, and he is comfortable, and we are off. in my head, i was already packing my bags. >> and two or three days later, i had a knock at the door. >> hello, how are you? my name is steve and everybody knows me as biggs. >> he came in and sat down. >> so david, mind if i call you dave? >> not at all. >> straight away, i liked the guy. and he says, i know that you are probably worried about thing, and sending a girl out to south america, and it sounds dodgey, but believe me, he said, that is why i have said that i will pay for you to go with her, and the hotels and everything will be paid for, and all of your expenses. i think that i just pushed that little doubt to the back of my head. i'm starting to think, well, you are worrying for no reason. >> come on, when is the last time we had a holiday?
5:05 pm
>> so we decided rightly, let's just go for it and go out there to have a break. >> okay. >> nice. >> we'll do it. shook hands, and said, i'll be in touch with the tickets. >> see you. >> i will see you when you get back. we're on? >> yes! >> and after jayne was smiling and said, i knew we were going to go whether i wanted to or not. >> i got my own way in the end. >> and the biggest mistake of my life, without a shadow of a doubt. we got off of the plane, and it was about 8:00 at night. >> and so we were expecting somebody waiting with the name cards like they do and everything. and somebody was supposed to meet us there, and they are not here.
5:06 pm
well, we have the details of the hotel, and we know where we are going, so shall we just grab a cab and go there? >> that is what we did. the driver pulled up alongside the hotel, and it is a big hotel. and five-star. all lit up, very clean. my mood lifted. i felt a lot better. >> i thought, fantastic. this is what i came for. >> and we went to the reception and gave our names. >> david and jayne blaine. he couldn't find us. >> i am sorry, there is not a reservation by that name. i said, you have to check, and there has to be a mistake. she checked again, and we were not booked in. i could see jayne's face. >> thin got to thinking, what
5:07 pm
the hell is going on? >> and in the middle of south america, and you have got no hotel room, and it is getting late at night, and nobody has met you. all of my alarm bells that had been kicked to the back started ringing again. i said, look, the only thing that we can do is to book in and pay for the room. and then tomorrow, try to get a hold of these people. >> okay. thank you very much. >> we had been there about five minutes, and a bang on the door. and i answered the door. >> hi. i'm michael. >> he looked a little bit rough and ready, the guy, but polite, very polite man. >> look, aim so sorry, i should have met you at the airport and all i can do is to apologize. >> and jayne was a little bit angry with the guy. >> hello, are you the person who
5:08 pm
is supposed to have met us at the airport? and we waited there almost an hour in a strange country and you leave us stranded. >> i am so sorry, i mixed up the flight times. i am so sorry. >> he was polite and apologizing. >> and i know you told me that it is the hotel. >> and he said, this is not the hotel, but when you come through customs, and let them know that you are staying somewhere that is already. >> and the other hotel that we are going to take you to is as nice as this one. just stay here and relax and have a good night's sleep. he said good night, and he went. >> there you go. >> and me and jayne were laughing. the mood lifted again. it has been a mistake, and these things happen. >> the next day.
5:09 pm
we had gotten all of our things together. he met us. he was nice again. he just took us to the car. >> it was a little bit safer that we could see through car window, and few bars and restaurants and people milling about. everything was back on track, you know. we came off of the main road and drove down a couple of, like, i would say basically trucks. tracks. we were there for about another five minutes, and we pulled up to this hotel. we could see that there was a
5:10 pm
fence all of the way around it, you know. but there was nobody there. nobody. we had been there about two minutes, and we got a knock on the door. >> are you are all right? >> it was michael. >> and he was with a big african guy. >> for some reason he got on a bomber jacket, a zip-up jacket, and he looked a little bit spooky, the guy. a guy you would not want to cross >> and michael said, oh, this is john. he'll be taking care of you while you are here, and anything that you need or you want, we have to see john. >> so if you want to go into town or anything, john will come with you to make sure that you are safe. >> like a body guard. >> and michael said they are having trouble with the license at the club, and he says, so, everything is on hold for a day
5:11 pm
or maybe two days. so, just, you know, be cool, and everything is still on track. >> and just waiting for the license. >> okay. >> i will see you out. >> i am thinking, oh, here we go again, another problem. but after he went, jayne said, well, mind you, that gives us a couple of days to just chill out. >> hey, come on, and stop worrying. and jayne said that we can go in the daytime to the hotel and go by their pool. >> the pool was lovely, and i forgot the other hotel, because i will just sleep there and come to this one everyday. >> nice. >> it was fantastic. and relaxed. i could do two weeks of this, you know. brilliant.
5:12 pm
i laid there just relaxing, and i could see john coming to the hotel, and coming into the hotel pool area. you know, i thought maybe just coming to check to see if we were okay. but he looked serious. and he lent over to me, and he said, i need you to go back to the hotel. i said, there is nothing at that hotel. i said, what, we are just taking in some sun and drink, and he looked at me and he said, i need you to go back to the hotel, and i'm not going to ask you again. he said, i'm telling you. >> go back to the hotel. no more discussion. >> as he leaned over, you could see in the jacket that he had a gun.
5:13 pm
>> come back to the hotel now, all right. >> i saw david's face, and the expression changed. >> all right, all right, mate. >> i said, jayne, look, just get your thing, and let's just go. >> we walked right through the hotel, and it was silent. there was a car waiting. he just opened up the door, and he said, get in. >> i thought, well, i'm in a strange country, and this guy there in the front with a gun. >> this is not right. there are rate suckers. he's been paying more for car insurance because of their bad driving for so long, he doesn't even notice them anymore.
5:14 pm
but one day brian gets spshot from progressive. now brian has a rate based on his driving, not theirs. get snapshot and see just how much your good driving could save you. ♪ (music pl ♪ throughout) uh oh. what's up? ♪ ♪ ♪ does nobody use a turn signal anymore? ♪ (ee-e-e-oh-mum-oh-weh) (hush my darling...) (don't fear my darling...) (the lion sleeps tonight.)
5:15 pm
(hush my darling...) man snoring (don't fear my darling...) (the lion sleeps tonight.) woman snoring take the roar out of snore. yet another innovation only at a sleep number store. ♪ one coat, yes! ♪ there is a day, for every number. ♪ ♪ there is a time, for all my slumbers. ♪ ♪ and i can see, that i can't run and hide. ♪ one coat guaranteed marquee interior. behr's most advanced paint. come find our top rated paints, only at the home depot.
5:16 pm
billions are spent to confuse and, dare i say it, flummox the american public. "save 16% on car insurance." "switch now..." well at compare.com, we say enough's enough. so we constantly scrutinize millions of rates... answering the question once and for all, who has the lowest. just go to compare.com and get up to 50 free quotes. choose the lowest, and hit purchase. so you can get back to whatever it is you civilians do when you're not thinking about car insurance. compare.com when we got back to the
5:17 pm
hotel, michael was waiting. >> he said, i need you to go up to your room, and i will be up in a minute. >> jayne is walking around the room, ranting and raving a little bit. >> i said jayne, just calm down, let's see what they have to say. and the door just opened, and they walked in. michael said, look, i don't know what you have been told in england, but you are here the to do a job. i said, what do you mean? >> why do you think that you are here? nobody flies all of the way to south america for no reason. >> i am here to do a dancing job. he says no matter what you are told, are there is no club. there is no dancing. he says you know why you are here. >> you are taking drugs back to england, simple as that.
5:18 pm
>> and as soon as the words came out of his mouth, take drugs back to england. >> i kind of lost it. >> wait. >> you are going to do exactly as you are told. >> john says, you are in this country, and nobody knows where where you are many this country, and if we want you to disappear, you will just disappear. >> all of the sudden, the look just scared me to death. michael said, take your suitcases, and your clothes, and we will plant a kilo of cocaine in each bag. >> jayne is just shaking her head saying no, way am i doing it. and john said, that you are doing it, and that is the end of the matter. tomorrow morning, we will take you to airport and things will start from there. they took the case, and they got our passports and any money that we had.
5:19 pm
these guys said, don't try to leave your room. and don't try to leave the hotel, they said, because you will pay. they said, and at the end of the day, you will pay with your life. >> now, we are just stuck there in the room. both of us were just absolutely terrified. >> it is okay. >> at one point i said, look, i'm going to have a look, and see downstairs and see if there is any way we can get out of here. there's nobody else in the hotel. there is no guests or anything like that, because i saw just what they used the hotel for.
5:20 pm
i walked to the top of the stairs. and took about three steps down the stairs, and there's a john stood there right at the side of the door. it was no exit from the hotel apart from down these stairs. you won't get out, and simple as that. >> we didn't sleep much that night at all. >> can we tell somebody. can we tell the police? but the trouble is that our phones didn't work. the hotel phones didn't work. we couldn't phone anybody. i really believe that 100% no doubt the about it, these guys would have shot us.
5:21 pm
total nightmare. i said to jayne, look, we are going to have to do what they say. like it or not, we are going to do it. the next morning john and michael barge into the room brandishing two brand-new suitcases. john pulled out a bottle, and it was a shampoo bottle, and he explained that the drugs were inside of these bottles. >> cocaine in this bottle. >> i thought, good god, this is going to be amateur hour, and you know, putting it in the the shampoo bottle, and anybody who just opens it up, they are going to know straight away what is in
5:22 pm
it. and he said, eight bottles in each case. i said, you are not flying direct, but from here to st. lucia into st. martins, into guadalupe into france. >> and when you get to france, you take a ferry straight to england. >> it is ludicrous. it is mental. this is, and there is a reason for it, because the route we take, we know it is safe. we have done it a thousand times he says, a thousand times, and everybody has paid. the police are paid. and the people at the airports are paid, and the customs are paid, and so you can't get caught. they told us when we got back to england, and as soon as we handed the case over, we we would get $8,000 for it. what? $8,000 for what we were risking, you would not do it for a million.
5:23 pm
there is no way around it in the situation that we are in, we have to do it. >> i am just like a zombie. i am just doing what david is telling me to do. >> she was just terrified. i could see it written all over her face, you know. >> i felt like crying, but i didn't want to like show emotions in front of these guys. >> it is killing me inside, because i am the guy that is there to look after her, and i should haven't let this happen at the end of the day, and now i feel guilty, because i cannot protect her, you know. when we arrived at the airport.
5:24 pm
5:26 pm
5:27 pm
and there was a woman checking the bags, and straight away, you think, i have had it. and she is checking all of the bags. i said, john, they are going through all of the bags. and john says you are not going to be searched. take your case, and go into checkout. and just go through and get on the plane. we walked up, and everybody else had been searched, everybody with a case had been searched. i looked back and john was still standing at the door just watching to make sure that we went through.
5:28 pm
make sure that we are getting on the plane. >> i am shaking, and i'm sweating. i am sure that people could see the fear in my face. >> and she just waved us over. good god, we are going to be stopped. we are going to be caught. this is it. and then after an hour, she waved us past, and both case, and never looked in it, the bags or anything. the pressure on top of me just seemed to vanish, you know. >> thank you.
5:29 pm
>> and i can remember walking off with jayne saying, god, that were easy. and nobody gave it a second glance, you know. nobody batted an eyelid. as we get back into the airport, the worries is started coming back again. and we were waiting at the carousel, five, ten minutes, and the bags come around. and then it is that walk, you know, that you have to go through customs, and you know, you have to go through customs. and all i kept thinking to myself, i feel sick. calm down, calm down. it is madness. you know, your head is going 11,000 miles an hour thinking, if we get stopped what shall i say? what shall i say?
5:30 pm
>> i am still scattered thinking, do i look like i have anything with me? i am trying to act as calm and normal as possible. >> i looked at the guy, and he smiled and i thought that he was going to say, come through. hi. bag on the counter please. and he just said, "can you put your bag on the counter?" at that point, i could have physically been sick there. yes, have you got the keys to unlock the lock. i was trying to take the key out without shaking.
5:31 pm
he never said anything, but he looked at me and looked at the the bag, and rummaged through the bag, and it is like he knew what he was going for. i thought that my heart was going to the come through my mouth. >> i was thinking, that is it, we are caught. this guy is not stupid. >> i could have just burst into tears. when he flicked the lid open, it was game over, you know, life over, in prison n the caribbean, and 20 years, and good luck with that. but as it happens, when he squirted, it was shampoo that came out. i couldn't take my eyes off of
5:32 pm
what he was doing, like every motion, everything that he was doing. he looked at me again, and he took a tissue and wiped it down. he said that everything is fine, take your bags and go through. i could have kissed the man, you know. >> as we are walking out of the airport both me and david were just laughing. we knew that we had got through. >> it is like you had won the lottery. the relief is just overwhelming, and it is like, we have gotten away with it. god, it is -- sheer joy. >> it was my birthday, and so david says, go out and have a drink, and have a good time for your birthday for tonight. >> one, two, three.
5:33 pm
>> i can remember waking up pretty early, and the hangover from hell, and i just nudged jayne, and i said, how easy was that, jayne? i says that guy at customs office, and he searched the bag, and tried the shampoo. and if field him, it is going to fool everybody. i said, we are going to make this. michael said that there a payment of $8,000 when we get back to england. >> and you will get an envelope with 8,000 pounds in it. >> we had been through all of the terror and the pain and if we don't deserve 8,000, who does.
5:34 pm
let's take these drugs, get them over it into england and spend the money. >> and i looked at david, and i said, let's just go the rest of the way home, and drop the bottles off with them, and pick up the cash and go. >> within three days, we had become international drug smugglers. [burke] hot dog.seen it.covered it.
5:35 pm
5:37 pm
hi, i'm richard lui with the hour's top stories. moments ago, police giving a briefing updating the evidence against a suspect involved in the d.c.-area shootings this week, eulalio tordil is being charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and use of a firearm during the commission of a felony. now the suspect was caught yesterday by police after killing three people, including his estranged wife, and injuring three others. police saying ballistics show a firearm found in the suspect's vehicle is the same gun used in two, if not all three locations. now back to "lock-up abroad. brgs
5:38 pm
the next morning we got into the car, and went off to the airport. >> from st. lucia, we were headed to guadalupe. i don't believe i was even nervous. >> i was acting more normal, and tourists, and island hopping. >> i think that the nerves were gone, because we had done the hard part, and a few security guards about, and smaller airport, and we would get through there no problem. the bags come around and ours still had not come off of the plane. everybody else got their luggage. ours did not come off of the plane.
5:39 pm
>> and i remember looking around and thinking that there are less and less people in here. >> i stood there for five minutes, an one bag came around. it was jayne's. >> we have two of these. >> took it off, and still waiting for my bag. no bag. >> i looked at a david, and i said, what is going on? i am thinking, then, they know, they know. >> i said, i have to go up to the information and report the bag missing. and i said, look, we just got here from st. lucia and two bags, and there is only one case. >> when she got off of the phone, she said it is a mistake, it is left on the plane, and
5:40 pm
going to the next destination. she said, don't worry, we will deliver it to your hotel. so then i calmed down again. they just left it on the plane by mistake. >> don't worry about it. >> and now, jayne is trying to calm me down. so i am trying to think positively, yeah, it is just a mistake. it has just been left on board. walking through the customs, and nobody else around. nobody. apart from the customs man on the desk. and all hell is let loose! they just appeared. out of every door. >> it was just absolutely petrifying.
5:41 pm
>> there you are on the floor, and 20 coppers there, and guns all out, and one pressed in the back of your head. i could hear her saying, i haven't done anything wrong. i haven't done anything wrong. i am trying to say, leave her alone. leave her alone, and he said, you are under the arrest for transportation of cocaine. right at that second, my life had gone, you know. dragged into a little room, and guns at the back of our heads. >> they take the case and put it on the counter in front of us. they opened the suitcase up. and immediately, immediately,
5:42 pm
5:43 pm
cocaine. and she looked at me, and i could see that we were terrified. they photographed it. and all of the policemen behind all shaking hands and generally all smiling, and they had been tipped off that we were coming. and we were meant to get start right from the start. i am sure all 40 or 50 kilos. all we were, we were decoys. nightmare, absolutely. nightmare. they put us both in the back i'll save the day! for plumbers and bakers and scapers of lawn, she's got customized coverage you can count on. you chipped my birdbath! now you're gonna pay!
5:44 pm
not so fast! i cover more than just cars and trucks. ♪ action flo did somebody say "insurance"? children: flo! ♪ action flo cut! can i get a smoothie, please? ooh! they got smoothies? for me. as long as you love me, it's alright bend me shape me, any way you want me... shape the best sleep of your life. sleep number beds with sleepiq technology adjust any way you want it. the bed that moves you. only at a sleep number store. we built our factories here because of a huge natural resource. not the land. the water. or per sources. it's the people. american workers. they build world-class products.
5:45 pm
5:46 pm
5:47 pm
of the big van and drove us off to the prison. god, it is awful. >> i am thinking that i have got him into this. why the hell did i talk david into it? when he said no, why didn't i just leave it at that? i hated myself. when we got to the prison gates, there were guards there with the guns, and it was all like the barbed wire fencing. >> i stepped out of the van, and they yanked me off to one officer, and jayne to another one. >> i didn't realize that we were going to be taken in through separate doors.
5:48 pm
>> all i could think of is, god, a place like this, and women getting raped and anything can happy to her. >> jayne! >> i was scared to death for the girl, you know. scared to death for her. >> he just looked at me and turn and he shouted "i love you." "i love you." >> i am thinking, how can he? how can he still love me after what i have just gotten him into? >> all i remember is walking through the gates, and everything was quiet and silent and strange. two officers came up to the side of me. and he opened the door. you never heard anything like it in my life.
5:49 pm
5:50 pm
>> and the conditions for me weren't that bad. the rooms was clean. the guards were quite nice. by that point, i was not scared for myself anymore. i was worried about david. i was scared for him. >> everyday i was in prison, you live in fear that somebody is going to stab you or kill you. in there, you have basically all of the dregs of the earth. you have got from the petty criminals to the armed robbers to the child killers. i was terrified. i have been in there two week,
5:51 pm
and it was a sunday afternoon. i can remember walking down some steel stairs to the bottom landing. and it was blisteringly hot. i got a shirt on, and i took the shirt off. but as i got the shirt off of my head, i got my legs smashed out from underneath me. and i fell down the stairs. i hit my head. i hit my back. and i just felt the bones in my back crunch. and then i ended up in a heap on the bottom. i could feel the blood gushing
5:52 pm
out of my head, you know. so, somebody fetched a a white sheet from somewhere and threw it over me. they thought that i was dead. terrible at golf for as long as i can. he's just happier when he's playing. but he's terrible. for the strength and energy to keep doing what you love, try new ensure enlive. only patented ensure enlive has hmb, plus 20 grams of proteino help rebuild muscle. and its clinically proven formula helps you stay you. oh. nice shot. new ensure enlive. always be you.
5:54 pm
5:55 pm
5:56 pm
and lugged me back to prison. i'm crippled. the back, it was horrendous pain. but they don't care, they just want you back in the system. >> i had heard a rumor that he had been attacked. the prison guard told me he was hurt, badly. but they didn't give me any details. i was like, i was just scared to death the whole time. i was terrified for him. not for me, but for him. >> i could see the women's sell block through the cell window. soy took the pillow case off and got a marker pen of some kind
5:57 pm
and i just wrote in it. and i put like a flag outside the window. >> i just seen it out of the corner of me eye. i glimpsed and i see the big pillowcase out the window. just said jayne, i love you on it. and instantly knew it was david. >> hey! >> and i stuck my arm out the window and i'm waving and i started shouting to him. >> the first time i saw jayne's arm come through, it made my heart like just race. >> i love you! >> and just do hear her voice, i love you! >> just for that, you know, that few seconds meant the world.
5:58 pm
>> when we got the release forms, i was like, oh, it was amazing. i knew that day it was here that we was actually going home. >> the guard come with a wheelchair. and wheeled me to the reception. >> i run up to him, hugging him to bits. and i'm thinking, i'm not letting him go just in case they take me back. >> just like come on, let's just get out of here, you know. it's joy, overwhelming.
5:59 pm
without that, that whole cesspool of a prison. against the odds, i survived. pr. healthwise, yeah, it's, it's damaged me beyond repair. them two years has cost me my mobility you know? i will end up in a wheelchair. >> well a lot of people, it would have broke them. but i just love him to death. >> i regret not having a little more common sense at the time. and sticking to me instincts, you know. and just going into a situation that's -- anybody can go into. believe me. it can happen to anybody.
6:00 pm
it really can. we didn't never want to blame each other. i love her to bits, we'll always be soulmates, you know? always. i never committed a crime in my entire life. i never thought that a small lie could spin out of control. >> give us our documents. we'll be out of here. >> that was just beyond a nightmare. >> this is the court. >> a cage. a cage is for animals. human trafficking? are you kidding me? i couldn't believe that i was
75 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
MSNBC West Television Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on