A British mom-of-three’s life may soon take a deadly turn in a sun-drenched tourist destination more famous for its yoga retreats and infinity pools. Lisa Stocker, 39, of East Sussex, is accused of smuggling almost a kilogram of cocaine into Indonesia disguised as Angel Delight packets. She has yet to face sentencing in Bali.
What happened to her? The difference between a death sentence and decades in jail is vital.
Stocker broke her silence in court this week with the eerie five-word statement, “Won’t trust people so easily,” in a turn of events that would have been better suited for a Netflix thriller than everyday life.
On February 1, Stocker was arrested at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport along with her partner Jon Collyer and friend Phineas Float. After a routine airport X-ray flagged their luggage, the three were allegedly found in possession of hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cocaine buried in food packaging.
They were coming by plane from the United Kingdom via Qatar.
In favor of what Indonesian prosecutors claim was a coordinated trafficking attempt, Float has been charged with picking up the goods at a hotel near the airport a few days later.
Stocker’s Defence Paints a Picture of Naïveté in Bali
In her tearful confession, Stocker said she got swindled by a friend who asked her to bring some “snacks,” which she now says were actually cocaine packets covered in chocolate pudding and chips.
She burst into tears as she appeared in court, “I was shocked after finding out it was cocaine.” She also argued that the same friend had earlier sent her and Collyer to Bali at least twice with similar “packages.”
Collyer, her partner, did little to support her case; he acknowledged that what they did was “very stupid,” but kept insisting he was not aware of its actual nature. He sounded more like a schoolboy caught skipping class than a man who could’ve been put to death by firing squad when he told Judge Heriyanti, “I won’t do it again.”
British mother accused of smuggling drugs into Bali breaks down in tears as she tells court she ‘didn’t know the packages were cocaine – I won’t trust people so easily in future’ https://t.co/8ynZOmkzdq
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) July 15, 2025
However, Float is currently taking a far more aggressive stance, staying silent in court but gaining notoriety last month for shouting “f— off” at a reporter outside the court building.
That’s not precisely how someone hoping for forgiveness would act. Or would they?
Prosecutor Pushes for Mercy, But Jail Time Still Looms Large
In a surprising turn of events, lead prosecutor Made Umbara has now asked the judge to consider a sentence that is far less severe than anticipated: just one year in prison, to be added to the time already served. That is very different from a death sentence that looms large over the trio’s heads due to Indonesia’s scandalously deadly drug laws.
However, their attorney, Sheiny Pangkahila, suggests that if the judge decides to give them a harsher sentence, the three might face up to 20 years in a detention facility. Next week, each of them will find out what lies ahead.
Why are they surprised.https://t.co/16uk86Q73H pic.twitter.com/gn1VmBL1Z0
— Dame Gillian Bateman 🌸 #malfeasance (@GillianBateman5) June 7, 2025
The British public is now riveted by yet another cautionary tale of the perfect place gone seriously wrong. They are watches as the clock ticks down. Bali is a sunny retreat with snacks and selfies one minute, but what happens in the next one? It’s sobbing in a courtroom while in a cell alone, where saying “I’m sorry” might not be enough, ever.
