Derrick Gregory

Derrick Gregory (1949 in Ealing, London – 21 July 1989, Pudu Prison, Kuala Lumpur) was an English drug smuggler who was hanged in Malaysia in 1989.

Gregory was executed by hanging on 21 July 1989 at Pudu Prison.

In December 1986, the British television station Channel Four broadcast a documentary on the case entitled 'No Man Wants to Die' as part of its 20/20 vision series.[1] It was produced by the journalist Andrew Drummond. As part of the programme, a British-based psychiatrist was flown out to Malaysia to examine Gregory. Drummond said that the examination revealed that Gregory had an enlarged brain cavity and had done since he was about four years old.

Gregory was arrested on 7 October 1982 at an airport in Penang with over a pound of heroin found in his boots and clothes. At the trial, the court in Penang was told Gregory had 14 packets of the drug in his boots and four packets in his underwear. He was attempting to board a plane for Singapore en route to Los Angeles when he was arrested.

Gregory married Carole Cunnington in Hounslow in 1980, with whom he had a daughter, Tara, the same year. They were separated, with Gregory not having seen his daughter (who was 8 at the time of his death) since she was an infant. It was reported that in the hours before his execution, Gregory clutched a photo of his daughter. Whilst in prison, he had received visits from his parents, Kenneth and Mary Gregory and also his brother Paul.