Ramsay's brother faces decade in 'hellish Indonesian prison' for heroin possession

Gordon Ramsay's younger brother has gone before a court in Indonesia yesterday for possessing heroin.

Ronald Ramsay, 39, is said to have admitted the offence and faces up to ten years in jail.

As he waited handcuffed in a detention room before the start of proceedings, a distressed Ramsay covered his face with a newspaper and spat when photographers tried to take his picture.

"Go," he shouted. "Leave me alone."

Outside the court his defence lawyer, Erwin Siregar, begged for the support of his client's family.

Ramsay intended to plead guilty, Mr Siregar said, arguing that the drugs were not for distribution. "I will seek as short a sentence as possible - months," he said. "Please ask his brother Gordon to contact him. He needs his help."

Ramsay was arrested in February when police, said to be acting on a tip-off, surrounded him as he entered a supermarket on the island of Bali.

When searched, it is claimed, he was found to have 100mg of heroin hidden inside a packet of cigarettes.

Prosecutor Agung Kusumayasa Ciputra told the district court, in the capital Denpasar, that Ramsay was in "illegal possession of classone narcotics".

Gordon Ramsay has previously spoken about the worry of his brother's heroin addiction.

In an interview before Ronald's arrest, he said: "I feel the pain, I feel it big time. I don't think that my mum, at 60, should still be putting up with it.

"It is hard dealing with Ronnie. He is a major responsibility. It is like having an 18-year-old to look after."

If convicted Ramsay would serve his sentence in Denpasar prison, which is notorious for its harsh conditions.

A sprawling maximum- security facility, it has cramped cells, appalling sanitation and no showers for inmates, many of them Western tourists arrested over drugs.

In recent years, Indonesia has imposed harsh penalties, including death, for narcotic offences.

Earlier this month, five Chinese, a Dutchman and a Frenchman who appealed against the length of their convictions on drug charges were instead sentenced to death.

Last year, six young Australians were sentenced to death for heroin smuggling in Bali, causing anger in Australia where capital punishment has been abolished.

At the end of last year, 134 people were on death row in Indonesian jails, including 37 foreigners, most of them for drug-related crimes.