27 Facts About Warren Fellows

Warren Fellows was an Australian former drug courier who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Thailand in 1978 for his role in a heroin trafficking operation that took place from Perth to Bangkok.

Warren Fellows's father Bill Fellows, was a champion jockey and horse trainer who won the 1949 Melbourne Cup on Foxzami.

Warren Fellows was the youngest of three children, but his two-year-old sister Gail, died in 1950 from a "bowel complication".

Warren Fellows had a son named Adrian Simon who wrote "Milk-Blood".

Warren Fellows was educated at De La Salle College, a Catholic school for boys in Ashfield.

Warren Fellows claimed he was nearly expelled from the school when he was caught running a horse betting operation from his school desk.

Warren Fellows left De La Salle College and went to Randwick North High School.

Warren Fellows worked in various jobs, including as a barman and an apprentice hairdresser in Double Bay.

Warren Fellows came to know drug dealer William Sinclair, who took him to Bangkok, Thailand where he was introduced to Neddy Smith and made his first successful attempt at smuggling heroin into Australia.

Warren Fellows claimed he became involved with Smith because he was "young and impressionable" and flattered that he "was liked by a man most people were terrified of".

Warren Fellows worked for Smith as a drug courier, domestically and internationally.

Warren Fellows reported this to Smith who dismissed it, claiming that he would have been informed if it were true.

Hayward and Warren Fellows became increasingly apprehensive, but after Smith lost his patience with them and made implied threats, they reluctantly agreed to go through with the trip.

Smith later said that Warren Fellows got done because he booked his flight using Smith's telephone, although Warren Fellows says that he cannot remember whether he booked it with Smith's phone or not.

Unbeknown to them, the trio were under surveillance and the meeting appeared to police to incriminate Sinclair, even though according to Warren Fellows, he was not involved.

Warren Fellows claimed that there were many warning signs and that the night before they were arrested he had a "moment of clarity" and resolved to wash the heroin down the bath drain.

Warren Fellows alleged they were subjected to physical and psychological abuse at the hands of Thai Narcotics Suppression Unit officers who demanded they sign statements which they could not read because they were written in Thai.

Warren Fellows claimed they resisted because Sinclair was innocent, but he eventually relented when officers informed them they were to be executed without trial under Article 27 of the military law and dragged Hayward outside for execution.

Sinclair and Warren Fellows were sentenced to life imprisonment and Hayward was sentenced to 30 years' jail.

Warren Fellows received a royal pardon and was released from Bangkwang on 11 January 1990.

Whilst imprisoned in Thailand, Warren Fellows attempted suicide several times, one he recalled was when he was locked into a darkroom he wrapped a sarong around his neck and tied it to a hook on the ceiling; however, he claimed as he felt his bowels fall the sarong snapped, causing him to fall, saving him.

Warren Fellows claimed that heroin was easily available in Thai prisons and was the only form of escape from the appalling conditions.

Warren Fellows wrote that it was "an outstanding case of poetic justice" that he should become addicted himself.

Warren Fellows expressed concern regarding his and Paul Hayward's ability to adapt back into society, an issue which he claims played a part in Hayward's death in 1992 from a heroin overdose.

Warren Fellows explained how he still had hallucinations of strange abnormal creatures hovering over him and watching him.

Furthermore, Warren Fellows claimed that he had the same nightmare once a year or so, regarding him lying on a beach with two beautiful women feeling free and happy, however as he began to walk off into the sunset he turned around and noticed that the two girls had disappeared and that he was back in the Thailand Prison where a guard was calling his name telling him to go in his cell.

Warren Fellows said that although he was released from Bangkwang he would never be free from the tortures in his mind.