Ex-Australian Javelin Champion Sentenced to Death on Drug Charges in Sri Lanka

A Sri Lankan court Tuesday sentenced former Australian javelin champion Reginald Spiers to death on drug charges.

High Court Judge Lakshman Weerasekera found Spiers, 44, guilty on four counts of possessing heroin and one count of possessing hashish.

He was arrested at Colombo airport in December 1984.

Court sources said death sentences in drug cases in Sri Lanka were not usually carried out, therefore Spiers was unlikely to be executed but could serve a life sentence.