All language subtitles for Banged Up Abroad - Season 1 Episode 1

If they'd have told me what was waiting
there, I wouldn't have believed them.

Every minute of the day, I always knew
someone was watching us.

Look at them, you look at the gun and
you think, shit, what have we done? I

like I'd never seen one of them again.

I just remember my heart pounding and
thinking, what have we done now?

That wasn't my country. I shouldn't have
been there.

There's blood everywhere. I'm in pause.

What the... If you ain't willing to
fight for your life, then you ain't

it.

My life in Leicester was dragging me
down.

For a young lad at that age, it was
boring.

I'd just had enough of waking up, no
opportunities, no money in my pocket.

I wanted to run away from everything.

I was working at my uncle's scrapyard.

I was just really depressed.

I wanted to, um, just get away from it
all, really.

I wanted a challenge.

I wanted some adventure.

I wanted to go and see a bit of the
world.

I'd known Paul about ten years before I
got arrested.

This whole story began in the nightclub.

It's a nightclub. I'd been there loads
of times.

We'd seen another friend who we'd not
seen for a long time in there.

Something stuck out about this guy.

He caught my eye. I looked at him. Well,
he looked like something special.

He looked like he'd been away.

He looked healthy in his skin.

He looked well -off. Good clothes, good
shoes, good jewellery. He had a lot of

money.

He said he'd just come back from a hot
country.

He told us, man, he's very like every
young lad's dream.

Nice girl, speeches, armchair.

He said, if you want to remember what
I've got, there's the guy over there.

I can put you on to him if you want.

Amy took us over to the Russian guard,
Paul and Jim, interested in doing some

business with us. You know, they're good
people from the area, seeking customs.

The Russian guy said, have you ever been
abroad?

I'd never been abroad before in my life.

He said, would you get a package for me?
And I said, what's that then? He said,

well, it's drugs, but I need you to be
honest with me and say that you could do

it for me.

I have trust in you.

And we said, well, what's in it for us?

Listen, pay for the ticket, Venezuela.

We'll give you a four -star hotel and
money while you're on holiday.

You'll meet someone.

They'll give you drugs.

Everyone will be paid off at the
airport, so no one will be stopping

Listen, I'll give you $8 ,000 a year.

Hasn't anyone got caught?

No, we've got gateways. We can get
through.

You know what we're doing.

It's an organisation.

But everything's paid off. There's no
way you can get caught.

It was offering me an opportunity to go
and make something of myself, even

though it may be dodgy, but I've only
got to do it once.

That's what we were saying, we'd only do
it the one time.

Just the one hit, get the money in.

That'd be it, the start of life, really,
for us.

I felt like I was risking nothing.

I'd got nothing.

I've seen that as the head start in
life.

That extra money could have made things
better for my family.

I can do this.

That's what I thought, that's what I can
get away with it.

We was gullible children, as far as I'm
concerned, gullible kids.

This guy wanted to do it quick.

He wanted to get this moving as quick as
possible. Within a week, everything was

sorted.

In the morning, there's a knock at the
door, and it's Jamie.

Get your bags, lads, come on. We've got
to go to the airport.

And we knew at that time, that's it.

We looked at each other and said, we've
got to do it now.

In the car, I remember it being cold,
raining, horrible on the motorway.

I just remember it raining on the
dashboard, thinking, get out of this

weather. I'm going to have a break from
all this.

I was like, I'm the start of a holiday.

We're going to go and enjoy ourselves.

And I just remember looking up at the
sky, being in the clouds.

You see the sunlight beaming in through
the window.

It was beautiful.

It was a crazy view.

As we touched down, my heart just got
like, whoa, I'm in a different country

now.

As soon as you walk out of the airport,
the heat was ready.

I couldn't breathe because it was a
changing climate and I wasn't ready for

All I can remember was just the heat was
intense.

It took my breath away.

Me and Paul stuck out.

They had toes sticking out of their
shoes. It was just a different world

altogether.

There are the palm trees. They're there,
mate. They're real.

I've never seen a palm tree in my life.
I'm looking at these palm trees. Yeah.

It wasn't expensive until this guy had
spent money. It was all professional.

Very nice place. Four star.

Balcony. Everything.

The marble floors and the big pillars
and the three, four, five floors

And clear blue water at the swimming
pool.

We felt comfortable with it because we
thought, this man's put good money into

this. It's not a backstreet fit. It's
still looking positive.

I felt free.

I felt this is my life starting and this
is what I make of it.

That's the first sense of freedom I ever
got.

If they'd have told me what was waiting
ahead, I wouldn't have believed them.

Never in a million years I would not
have believed what was waiting ahead.

First contact we got was the second day
of being at the hotel.

We got the phone call that he was
outside the hotel.

Paul was scared like I was.

We knew we had to go ahead with it.

It was full steam ahead from then on.

We got into the back of the Jeep and,
like, the Jeep just pulled off.

What you can see is, like, these dark
things in the back of this van and these

guns. I'd never seen someone carrying a
gun before.

You know, you just look at them and you
look at the gun and you think, shit,

this is serious.

This guy's lifting my arm up and I'm
thinking, what's he doing? And he's,

trying to measure my... Inside
measurement, there.

They said, we need to measure your chest
width, hip width and the length of your

chest to the bottom of your stomach.

And we said, what's that for then? He
said, well, you need bulletproof jackets

to put stuff in.

And we said, well, won't you see that?

And he said, no, no, you're OK. You wear
a shirt, you won't see it.

They were saying that they're going to
ring us soon, take us to their

put drugs on us and take us to the
airport.

And that's when we knew.

This is it.

That's the day we're going to be waiting
for.

And that's when me and Paul actually
come to the conclusion that we've just

to enjoy ourselves with what we've got
now and get on with it.

Because they gave us a lot of spending
money, it was $2 ,000 they gave us. We

were just always doing something.

I was just enjoying my holiday.

We did shopping.

We went on the beach, swimming in the
sea.

Surfing. We went on boats.

We were just like part animals, right
from the word go.

Drinking in the morning.

Used to go down to the restaurants,
ordering all this crab and exotic

We were sitting there with girls.

Being with the girls and clubbing.

It wasn't like a load of young lads
spilling beer over each other and things

like that.

The women stood there with champagne
glasses and nice sparkly dresses.

It was a different scene altogether.

Wherever we went, we were whistled at
and shouted at and loved by everyone.

Everyone was like, well, film stars.

We often thought about getting out of
the deal, but we weren't brave enough to

do that. We knew we couldn't just get
out of it without anyone having to pay

what we'd already started.

We was offered cocaine by a Dutch guy,
Jimmy.

I'd smoked marijuana before, but never
cocaine.

I've never tried cocaine before.

Didn't even know how much to take of
this stuff.

You know, I just started going mad on
it.

You just cut it up and cut it up and
make it more lines and more lines.

And I'm just... I've just mustered up
too much.

I could feel it racing and everything
was just going black.

He started having a seizure where his
heart was pumping really fast.

He couldn't breathe and he was sweating
and going white.

I was slapping him and trying to wake
him up. And I could see again and I get

blurred vision.

Splashing water and, come on, Paul,
what's up?

I could feel my chest tightening and I
started to panic. I thought I was going

to die.

It scared me. I thought I was going to
lose him.

In the end, I thought, that's it, I've
got to get you down to the hospital.

It's, like, really, really hot.

My head is now pounding.

I could feel my heartbeat in my head.

I just picked him up and threw him in
the back of the taxi.

Told the taxi driver, get to an
hospital.

God, I'm going to die, I'm going to die.
Where's this shit? Why am I talking?

I thought he was going to die.

I'm going to die.

I'm panicking, I'm panicking.

And I carried him into the hospital and
got a doctor to come.

They gave me an injection to calm me
down.

I'm in this hospital thinking, shit,
what have I done?

We slowed the holiday right down after
that attack. It just made me think, no,

don't want to be doing this, because
it's nearly killed my friend.

I never thought that if I brought this
drug into the country that I could be

killing people or that I could be
causing any damage to any families or

anything.

It was like a countdown, you know.

God, it's happening now, it's happening.

I just remember being in the hotel.

You can hear life on the street, but
inside you know.

You're going to be doing something
dangerous.

I got myself into something that I
couldn't get myself out of and I started

regret every moment of it.

I started to reminisce back to what

I'd left behind.

Maybe it weren't so bad in the first
place.

I spoke to my mother.

I felt like a little boy.

I felt like I was trapped.

You've got to see it for yourself.

No -one's going to help you here.

You've got to do it.

The night before, it was just me and
Paul. We stayed in.

We was tossing and turning most of the
night.

I was sweating.

Restlessness, couldn't get to sleep,
thinking, God, what have I done?

I've got to do it now, there's no
looking back, this is it. And when I did

finally go to sleep, it was only for
like a couple of hours and I was awake

again.

I was told to meet them outside.

We booked out the hotel.

And, yeah, there they were.

I just remember leaving the beach behind
and driving back to Caracas.

It was, like, hectic everywhere.

In the mountains, you can see these
shanty houses.

It was just horrendous. I'd not seen
that in my life, and I thought, Christ.

I felt like I'd entered a third -world
country that wasn't my country.

I shouldn't have been there.

They took us to this apartment, and the
apartment just looked dingy.

Like nothing that they expected.

I remember them eating and thinking, you
know, what are you eating?

The glamour associated with pop stars.

You associate that with cocaine.

Then you look in the apartment, there
was no glamour there.

It was the most scariest part of my life
that I've ever experienced.

I didn't understand what they were
talking about. I didn't understand what

had in mind. I didn't understand what
their next moves were.

We were virtually puppets.

There's no way you could ever argue with
them kind of people.

Just got to do what they say.

Unless you wanted that bullet in your
head, you couldn't do anything.

I was just there to do what I got to do
and then go.

Come away to get out of the apartment, I
just remember feeling like, shit, I've

got to do it.

Two guys called me into the room and I
stood there and I had to take my shirt

off.

He produced a vest. I just remember it
being really, really heavy, and when he

put it on my back, it was like... And I
stood with my arms out, and they put the

jacket on me, and I felt the weight pull
on my shoulders.

I knew there was far more in the jacket
than what the Russian guy had sent us to

collect.

They pulled the cords up the top here
and sewn the shoulders, and they made it

so it was tight around your stomach.

There was no way that I could have took
this vest off myself.

I remember thinking, this is where you
come to get kitted up.

I remember thinking, people have been
here before me.

But I knew now I was going to pay for
myself.

I just looked at myself in the mirror
and I thought to myself, God, what have

got myself into?

But it's already on me now. They've
sewed it up to pay for my holiday, to

for everything else.

It's just like walking into a brick
wall.

There's no... You're just one way
forward now. There is no turning back.

it. You're there.

We waited till the lady gave the nod.

You OK?

Go.

And then they walked us down to the
taxi, paid the guy and walked off. And

was the last time we've seen him.

It feels like a straitjacket to be
honest with you.

You can't get out of it, and it's just
strapped to your... You can feel the

packages digging into the side of your
ribs, and you just want to get it off

as fast as you can.

I remember Jim just turned around and
said to me, I was scared that people

smell it on us. I was scared that people
were watching us as we went to the

airport. I was paranoid completely.

We stopped talking because we didn't
know if the cab driver was in on it.

If this taxi driver's involved and we do
make a wise move, we will get shot.

You get outside the airport and you just
see all the police around you and all

the National Guard in your feet.

Shit.

I was scared, but I couldn't show that I
was scared, so I was trying to hide it.

I just remember my heart pounding and
just feeling scared, thinking, what am I

going to do now?

We walked to the main entrance to the
airport.

I remember I wanted to stay well away
from as many police as I could.

Felt like the jackets were obvious, not
to see but to feel.

If you bumped into someone, you'd know
that there's something there.

I'd been stood in the queue for about
10, 15 minutes.

This guy come up to us, and he's coming,
like, quite close to me, this guy, and

I'm thinking, I don't want him to come
close to me, because if he touches this,

he's going to know straight away what's
on me, and that's it.

Game's over.

He's like, come on, I'll give you an
hand. And I've, like, shouted at the

no, I've told you, I'm OK, thank you.

He's like, OK then, OK then, left us.

Jim's, like, looked at me, he didn't
need that.

I've turned round to go through the
immigration and I can remember seeing

guy standing there with a shirt and tie.

I just remember thinking, once I'm past
him, I've done it.

I've had my money.

The corner of my eye, I can see the card
at the side of him, and there's this

dog there.

My heart starts racing, trying not to
draw attention, looking down. I can see

this dog out the corner of my eye. I'm
looking, I'm thinking, God, this is it

now.

The Lord had reassured me that the
airport's paid off. You'll be all right,

don't worry.

Now I'm going to see for myself.

Have they paid it off or haven't they?

The dogs were just like, not even
interested in me. I'm thinking, well, I

couldn't have sniffed this on me.

This is when I was convinced, yeah,
these people have been paid off.

The bloke was speaking to you like he
knew me.

Literally speaking to me, you're all
right, my friend. Yeah, yeah, no

I'm all right.

That's peace. That was easy.

Went sort of straight through.

I sat down thinking, I've done it.

I thought I've got through the gateway.

And I'm sitting there looking at Paul
thinking, yeah, we've done it, mate.

We've done it.

That's it.

I was that confident and I just fell
asleep, just dozed off on Jim's

I just sat there waiting.

And you don't want to be sitting there
waiting. You just want to get on your

plane and get over and done with.

And that's when paranoia kicked in.

We're just sitting there normally.

Everyone's looking at me and Paul.

There's two men, and they're looking
funny at us. I thought they knew

away that we had stuff on us.

Paul fell asleep and landed on my
shoulder, like, and I pushed him to say,

people don't look right.

He's getting more and more agitated,
more and more. No, no, no, no, I don't

it, I don't like it. I'm going, keep
your mouth shut.

Calm down, chill out.

He wasn't paying attention to himself,
me.

I must have been killing myself up there
then, looking.

I knew they was looking at me.

I thought, come on, let's go and throw
this stuff away. Come on, let's go to

toilet and ditch it.

I couldn't just go to the toilet and
drop that off.

It just sewed on me anyway. How am I
going to get that off?

You can see I'm getting agitated and
it's making me feel paranoid as well

I'm getting more nervous and we're just
sitting there like thinking, shit, shit,

they're looking at us, they're looking
at us.

They shout over the loudspeaker, would
you please board such and such a flight

bound for England?

Turned down the tunnel, see these people
in front of me.

I just remember, like, looking a bit
further past, and then there's these two

guys that had been looking at us.

There's Tyrone, says, just look to your
right, and went, shit.

The tunnel just seemed like it was
getting longer and longer.

I just focused on getting past that man.

Without him searching me.

Just get on that plane and get past him.

He was virtually staring at us to go to
him.

That's how it felt.

Like he knew you had the stuff.

We got right next to the door.

He told me to lift my arms, I lifted my
arms like this, and he patted me on the

side. And that's when I thought to
myself, shit, and this guy just looked

and he just shook his head.

And I thought, no way.

The world has come tumbling down, I
thought.

What have I always gone and done?

They just took me and Jim to this really
small room.

They were being loud and threatening.

It was quite scary to not know what
they're saying.

You just didn't know what was going on.

That's when you started to think, we're
not getting out of here now, are we?

I still got this bulletproof vest on,
man. I'm thinking, just please get this

off me now.

I've had enough.

The guy's come up behind me, he's got
his pen and knife, he's trying to get it

off.

I just remember taking this jacket off
and I just remember hearing the foot

resist. Jacket hit the table.

That's when I knew there was a lot of
cocaine in there.

As they pulled them apart, I was scared.

I was like, what have I done?

I just remember thinking, my world, it
had come to an end.

I ain't never going to get out of this
shit. This is it now.

Felt a deep loss.

I felt like I wouldn't ever get out of
the country ever again. I'd never see my

mum and dad again.

And I've... That's it, I blew it.

We were both terrified at that time.

Both absolutely terrified. We thought we
were going to die.

They flagged a taxi down outside the
airport and we got in the taxi.

It just seems surreal.

We were all that jokes confiscated off
of Zoom.

Just these two guys are just going to
put us in a taxi and just take us, like,

in the middle of nowhere.

When I pulled up outside the Vega police
station and I just looked up at this

big building, five storeys, and every
window's got bars on it, well, no -one's

going to take me to a prison, surely,
straight away.

I feared for my life when we arrived
because we could hear a load of people

shouting in the prison.

You could hear knives hitting bars.

You could just hear that there was
uproar going on.

When the police was questioned, they was
looking as much as to say, you boys are

going to meet your nightmare in a
minute.

Up those stairs is your nightmare.

We walked up the stairs, police station
smelled, you know, all the walls

smelled.

We seen three cages, and they're all
hanging out of the cages, going, hey,

guy, green guy, and all this, and we're
like, whoa.

I had a couple of fingers missing, teeth
in a mess.

So I just thought, like, something out
of this world.

They're, like, pulling on his jeans
straight away, pulling on his clothes.

I've got five people standing around
with knives.

And this guy came and he went, you give
them your jacket and your shoes, as

they'll kill you.

I just wanted to burst out crying, but I
couldn't. I couldn't cry. I didn't want

them to see me cry. I thought, if I let
them see me cry, that's it from day one.

I've got to put a face on now.

7 ,000 miles away from home.

My mum's not there to help me.

The guards came to us and it was the
first bit of light we'd seen before they

opened the door and his eyes stopped.

That's how bad it was.

They just took us to this room.

The next thing you know, there's a
slight thunker everywhere.

James Miles and Paul Loseby were
arrested at Caracas Airport with 22

cocaine strapped to their chests.

I've looked at Jim and I just don't know
where to put my face and I'm thinking,

my mum's going to see this.

Arrested as they were about to board a
flight to London. Their explanation is

that drugs barons forced them into it.
This man put a gun to our head. Mum was

going to shoot me. We haven't done
nothing.

All I'm here for is a holiday.

All my family, everybody I know, they're
going to see this.

And I can't do nothing about it.

I got to speak to my parents a week and
a half after being captured at the

airport.

My mum, she said that she loves being
whatever I do, it don't matter, I'll

always be her son.

And that was the first time I cried
after I spoke to my mum.

I come back and cried.

I said to my mum, sorry, they know what
I've done.

They know what I've done there.

I don't know why I left them, I don't
know why I left my mum, I don't know why

left that.

I'm really sorry for what I was doing.

I don't think I could have apologised. I
couldn't have found words to say

anything. I don't know.

Just, sorry.

There's an atmosphere in the place, and
you can cut that atmosphere with a

knife.

When you look at their eyes, they've got
no...

No sense of nothing behind him.

I heard someone getting raped.

I heard somebody getting raped.

Knowing that you can't do nothing for
him and he can't do nothing for himself.

I don't know, cos he's probably got a
gun in the back of his head or in his

mouth. That was the worst.

For me and Paul.

Cos we could hear it, but we couldn't do
anything about it.

That was bad.

You are.

You wait to end.

There's nothing you can do.

There's someone coming through that door
any time of night.

You never know if there's going to be
armed or not armed or what frame of mind

there is going to be in.

Today, in a dramatic and astonishing
turn of events, James and Paul were

sentenced to four years for possession
of drugs.

but not trafficking.

After being in La Vega for a year and a
half, I knew we wasn't getting out and I

knew that no -one could do anything, not
even lawyers, and when he wasn't doing

anything, we were stopped.

We managed to get a camera on for Jim's
family and basically we just bribed the

policeman to take the camera in there.

I see that that person in that video
needs help.

To look at myself like that and see
myself in that state, that's not me.

It's like a possession.

You see the dark side of yourself.

At times you just fade off into that
just to get your body things in. It was

like, I don't think I'll ever see my mum
and dad again.

The English government thought it was
protecting us, but me and Paul knew we

more at danger there than we were at
maximum security prison.

I'd been warned about it that many
times, oh, you don't want to go to the

prisons. They kill each other and you
can buy grenades in there and you can

guns.

You don't know whether to believe it
when you're in a police station, but yet

felt like I was rotting away in there.

I'd just rather go down fighting and in
danger than just, like, rotting away in

this. Little place.

He took us out of the police station,
threw us in the back of his National

jeep.

You can just see, like a perimeter,
defensive guards standing in these

You think, God, is that something you've
seen off a film?

Guards are there to guard the perimeter.
The prisoners themselves run the

prison.

Walking in there, seeing the people
disfigured, limbs missing, and after

seeing all the guns and all the grenades
that went with it, it was ten times

worse than any hell.

I've seen somebody that's been in the
police station we've met. He said,

remember what it was like in the police
station? I said, yeah. He said, well,

get out of your head.

Because it ain't like it here, mate. It
says here, you fought for your life. If

you ain't willing to fight for your
life, then you ain't leaving it. This is

hell.

It was very scary because it was a whole
big scale of everything.

And we were only two English lads in
there.

It was the first week of his being
there.

Our cellmate said, have you ever seen
anyone die?

We said, no. He said, someone's going to
today.

I stood there, chatting away, waiting
for this food.

As soon as bang.

Like a ringing in me ear.

I just turned around and just looked at
this guy and he's just like gone on the

floor. He's been shot in the head and
all his brain's hanging out. There's

everywhere.

And me and Paul just walked there.

Couldn't believe it.

I'd been there two days and someone's
just been shot in front of me already.

brain's hanging out all over the floor.

And after that, it was just a normal
thing to be doing in prison for them.

Three people a week, four people a week,
five people a week.

Just getting killed.

It's all about power, possession.

Who's got the most drugs?

Who's got the most armour?

Who's got the most bullets? Who's got
the most grenades?

Laugh doesn't mean nothing. It means a
pound at the bullet cost.

And the man who's got the guts to pull
the trigger.

You feel like you're ducking and diving
for your laugh every day.

You'd lay there at night and think,
well, tomorrow, will I get through

Or will I get through this week?

Or will I see my mum and dad again?

You're now living their society and
their world, their rules and their laws

where there is no morals.

Morals don't exist.

You just get to the stage where you just
become one of them and you just live

like them, you live with them, you do
everything that they do just to survive.

I'd been there for four years. One day
the embassy came to give us some money

and letters from his family.

She comes round to let people know how
the sentences and the cases are getting

on and that me and Jim's names were the
first to be called out. We thought it

was coming up for a benefit, ready to go
free.

Jackie from the embassy, she was there
and she said, the prosecutor, she's not

happy with your appeal.

It looks like you're looking at a ten
-year sentence.

And me and Paul were just devastated.

You just feel like exploding.

Literally like kicking the gate straight
off.

I just wanted to shoot every human in
that room.

I just thought, I'm never getting out of
this hellhole.

That was the breaking point. I thought,
the English embassy just gave me 10

years. We'll sod the English, I'll be
Venezuela.

I might as well say I'm Venezuelan now.

I know I act like a Venezuelan. I live
like a Venezuelan.

Three lads just walked up to me with a
gun and said, do you want to hang around

with us? And I said, what do you do?
They said, we play Russian roulette with

the guns and we shoot people and we'll
just mess about.

I said, all right, come on then, let's
go and do it. And one day they gave me

this 9mm and I walked around the prison
with it to show it everyone.

I'll show everyone that I've got a gun
and that I want to use it.

That's the life I want to live.

You see him, he wants to cry, but he
can't.

What's the matter? I'm going to show
them.

You're going to show them, kid. I'm
going to show them you ain't messing

with me. I've had enough.

If anybody's going to come and try and
mess around, I'm going to show them

they're going to get it.

And he just became one of them, playing
mushroom roulette with guns.

I mean, what kind of normal person does
things like that?

The lads wanted to play Russian roulette
one day. They just said, have you ever

played it? I said, not really, no.

So the lads span it.

And I've gone, click.

Boy, it's tempting.

And he's done his turn.

Third man's done his.

And there was one lad who weren't even
in the gang.

And one of the guys walked up to him and
went like that.

And they were lucky it didn't go off.

But the guy was like, whoa.

To see a friend do something like that
and play around with their own life, I

knew that he must have been at some
serious stage.

As if to say, well, you know what?

Couldn't really give a fuck.

I rang my mum and dad up and said, I
don't ever want to see you ever again.

Imagine how that must have been for
them.

No self -esteem.

Gone.

No more need to go on in life.

Wanted to end it.

What are you doing? What am I going to
do if you're not here with me?

What am I going to do if you go away?

I just wanted to see my mum and dad and
my family so bad that I weren't going to

be willing to be taking my own life.

I would have done anything in my means
to get back home and see my family and

friends.

Anything.

It was on Saturday, and we heard
everyone shouting, here's the judge,

judge.

The judge had come into the actual
prison to release prisoners from prison

and then.

So we grabbed all the paperwork.

Me and Jim had just thought we'd try a
look, so we just asked if we could see

this judge.

He says, you've got all your
credentials, you've got everything you

Yeah, we're going to let you go free.

and me and Paul were just gobsmacked.

Then she says, right, you can go free,
but you have to find a job and then go

work every day. In the week, you have to
go back to the prison every night up

until 2007.

As soon as I was let free, I was
thinking about the escape.

There was no way I was going to stay
there after I'd just done five years.

I knew that I wasn't going to stay in
that country any longer.

I couldn't wait to go.

In their law, it stated that anybody in
their country that says a form of

identification, my ID, was a passport.

As soon as the embassy gave us his
passports back, we could see that we

make the escape.

We went together.

That would be the craziest thing we
could have done because we were coming

the country together.

So we both planned that we'd leave
separate.

So we arranged that Jim would go through
the Venezuelan port and I'd go through

to Colombia.

It was the first time in four years that
I'd been separated from Jim.

It felt strange for my friends to go the
other way.

I got no money or nothing. I got a load
of clothes off of a friend. I took the

clothes and I sold them all.

That's what I got my bus fare to
Columbia with.

Got on a coach to Columbia.

That's it now. I'm leaving Venezuela for
good.

I ain't coming back.

I decided to go on the run for a week
until my father came. He was going to

me money to buy a ticket so I could get
out of the country.

The flight got cancelled and he came the
week after, so I had to stay on the run

for another week until my father came.

I stayed right underneath the station
because they don't look where it's

obvious. They were lucky for me and they
couldn't find me.

When I got to the Colombian border, I
should have gone through the

but I didn't want to bring any tension
to myself.

Everyone's being checked.

If they'd have caught me, they would
have sent me back to prison for six

That was the risk I took to get back to
my country.

God, I don't know if he didn't drive
straight past, didn't even pull him

didn't say nothing to him, didn't
even... nothing.

On the other side, I rang my mum.

I said, look, I've done it, Mum.

I'm a Columbia mum.

I said, I need you to send me some
money.

I met my dad at the airport when I
collected money up in there.

My dad left that night and he says to
me, just ring me in the morning and make

sure you get a ticket to Columbia.

I said, I will.

When I got to the Western Union in
Columbia, it was something like £1 ,800

mum would send over.

And £1 ,800 in Colombian pesos is
like...

Wads. From there, direct to a travel
agent. This is on the same day.

Flight to England, please.

How far went to the airport?

That was more terrifying than when I sat
there with the drugs.

If I'd have been spotted by a policeman
at the airport, I think I would have

tried to kill the policeman at the time
or him kill me.

Because there's no way I would have gone
back to prison.

I thought, oh, my God, I've got to go
through this again.

And it's like, this airport is, like,
five times as big and, like, it's

Colombia, it's Bogota.

Their immigration has got to be tight.

But some more courage up.

Went straight through the immigration,
didn't even look at me, didn't even

batter an eyelid.

And I knew then, once I'd passed that
immigration, I was sat down in that

departure lounge.

It's over.

It's over.

I'm coming home.

I got off the plane in Columbia.

I've walked down, and I'd just seen this
hand that I recognised, and I thought,

I know that hand.

And as I've turned my body around to see
who it is, there's Paul sitting there,

and we've both looked at each other and
gone, we've done it, mate, we're free,

we're going home.

And we just hugged each other and said,
yeah, we're going home.

That's it.

It's all over.

And there it was, there was my light at
the end of the tunnel.

That plane waiting for me to stand on it
and go home.

Yeah, my nightmare is just finished. I'm
going home to my mum.

I don't feel guilty anymore because I've
come back.

I've been back in England six years now
and I've made amends.

And like everybody else, we all do
wrong.

Just try and make up for it and do
better.

Make your parents proud of you and the
people that love you are proud of you.

Because they're the ones that count at
the end of the day.

For me now, focus on my son and just
give him the best in life.

That's my future.

I want to be a person that's there for
his son, works for his son, secures his

son. Not someone who's not there for his
son, who's in prison, showing his son

the wrong sides.

I'm just there to get on with my life
now.

Just... move forward.

Everything forward.

Those bloody vampires are

everywhere. Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise
star in Interview with the Vampire, next

Five.