Family given settlement visa by UK Bangkok Embassy to feature on Locked up Abroad
-andrew-drummond.com 2011-06-13
The British Embassy in Bangkok were forced to break the rules, or at least at the instructions of the Home Office, allowed Davd Scott from Swindon Wiltshire to return home with his baby daughter and Filipina wife Cynthia on compassionate grounds.
The couple had contacted the Embassy in Manila about their plight. They had been jailed for adultery in the Philippines after an irate husband heard about their relationship.
Cynthia and her Filipino husband had been separated for some time and Cynthia worked in a hotel in the Middle East. But divorce is illegal and only the rich can afford an annulment.
When David and Cynthia went to the British Embassy in Manila there they were given the bad news. Under Philippines law baby Janina was actually the daughter of her extranged husband. The case was taken up by the press and the couple were encouraged to fly to Bangkok if they could.
Having done DNA tests proving David was the father and enlisted the help of a British MP Janina got a settlement visa, Janina was given British citizenship and they were allowed to go home to Britain.
Many foreigners in the Philippines could be similarly prosecuted. Many women in the sex trade come from broken marriages.