British pensioner Billy Eastment, accused of drug smuggling, is ill in a prison in Chilean, with desperate legal efforts to free him stalling amid attempts to contact family
The British bowls-playing pensioner accused of acting as an international drug runner is fighting for his life behind bars in Chile as desperate legal efforts are launched to free him before it’s too late.
William ‘Billy Boy’ Eastment, who has been locked up since May, is said to be in rapidly deteriorating health after suffering repeated bouts of pneumonia while in custody. Sources close to the case say the 80-year-old has endured four separate episodes of the lung infection since his arrest, on top of a series of serious underlying health conditions.
One insider said: “His health isn’t good at all. He’s very vulnerable, and being in prison is making everything worse. There’s real concern about how much longer he can cope.” Now, his legal team is scrambling to strike a deal with prosecutors to avoid a full trial, in a process described as similar to a plea bargain.
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“They are negotiating a shortened trial and process,” a source explained. “It’s essentially an attempt to resolve the case more quickly, given his condition.”
Eastment remains locked inside the notorious Santiago 1 Penitentiary in Chile, where he has been held since his arrest after authorities allegedly found £200,000 of methamphetamine concealed in his luggage. The Welsh-born bowls and fishing enthusiast was arrested after landing on a flight from Mexico, saying scammers tricked him into thinking he had won a prize.
But hopes of bringing the retired heavy goods vehicle and bus fitter home to Britain have been dashed. Extradition, which could have seen him returned to the UK, is not on the table, with officials warning it could take years to arrange.
“The ideal scenario would have been for the prison sentence to be replaced with expulsion from Chile,” the source added. “That does happen in some cases. But under Chilean law, that simply isn’t an option for drug offences.”
Instead, lawyers are now pursuing a last-ditch compromise that could see Eastment, whose detention stunned neighbours in the quiet cul-de-sac of Milborne Port, Somerset, released from jail but only under strict conditions.
Under the proposal, he would remain in the country under surveillance, likely subject to regular monitoring and required to report to authorities. “They are trying to negotiate his release under supervision,” a source said. “He wouldn’t be free to leave, but it would at least get him out of prison, where his health is deteriorating.”
However, even that plan is hanging by a thread. A major obstacle is Eastment’s medical situation. Because he entered Chile as a tourist, he is not eligible for the country’s national health system, leaving him exposed to mounting medical bills. To secure his release, officials require a financial guarantor to cover those costs.
“The problem is he needs a family member to step forward and act as guarantor for his healthcare bills,” the source revealed. “Without that, he cannot be released. The problem is that they are having trouble tracking down close family’. It’s not like it is that much money is needed to be his guarantor.”
Efforts are now underway to track down other relatives willing to take on that responsibility. “They are trying to contact anyone in his family,” the source added. “If no one comes forward, he will remain in prison.” The situation is made even more desperate by Eastment’s financial plight.
Before his arrest, his only income was his UK state pension. But after spending more than three months outside the country, payments have effectively been cut off.
“He’s no longer receiving his pension and has no way of accessing it from Chile,” a source said. “He doesn’t have any income at all.”
It leaves the pensioner trapped in a brutal Catch-22 – too ill to remain in prison, but unable to secure release without financial backing he does not have. It’s not looking good for him.”
They added: “Everything now depends on whether someone steps forward and whether the authorities agree to the deal. Without that, he’s stuck.”
Eastment has told prosecutors he had been receiving emails he thought were from International Monetary Fund bigwigs. He alleged that a woman called Carolina approached him during a layover in Mexico and said he was headed for Australia.
Eastment’s lawyer said: “In these emails, a person named Carolina, whose surname he does not remember, informed him that one of his relatives in New Zealand had died and that in order to access that person’s inheritance, he had to travel to Auckland, New Zealand, to sign certain documents at a public notary’s office.”
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