‘I am truly sorry’ for mountain stripping

The British woman jailed for stripping on a sacred Malaysian mountain has apologised for causing offence.
Eleanor Hawkins with her father Timothy as she made a statement outside her family home in Draycott, Derbyshire, apologising for any offence she caused by stripping on a Malaysian mountain which is considered sacred Picture SKY NEWSEleanor Hawkins with her father Timothy as she made a statement outside her family home in Draycott, Derbyshire, apologising for any offence she caused by stripping on a Malaysian mountain which is considered sacred Picture SKY NEWS
Eleanor Hawkins with her father Timothy as she made a statement outside her family home in Draycott, Derbyshire, apologising for any offence she caused by stripping on a Malaysian mountain which is considered sacred Picture SKY NEWS

Backpacker and university graduate Eleanor Hawkins appeared tearful as she read a statement outside her family home in Draycott, Derbyshire.

She said: “I just want to say how relieved and happy I am to finally be home.

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“I know my behaviour was foolish and I know how much offence we all caused to the local people of Sabah. For that, I am truly sorry.”

It brings to an end an arduous 10 days for the aeronautical engineering graduate, who was fined 5,000 Malaysian ringgit (£859) and sentenced to three days in jail - which she had already served - at a court hearing in Kota Kinabalu on Friday.

The 23-year-old arrived back in the UK yesterday morning.

Her mother Ruth said: “She knows what she did was wrong and disrespectful and she is deeply sorry for any offence caused to the people of Sabah and she has been appropriately and fairly judged by the Malaysian authorities and has served her sentence in full, the case is now closed.

“We would all now like Eleanor to be given the chance to recover, so we would really appreciate it if you would now afford us some privacy and allow her to get on with her life.

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“We would like to thank again the British consulate officials who have support Ellie in Malaysia during this very difficult time.” In recent years the Foreign Office has called on Britons to behave themselves when on holiday.

Asked whether he thought updated foreign travel advice on local laws and customs was successful, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: “I hope the message is getting through.

“It’s important that when people go abroad they are sensitive to the environment that they are in, they are sensitive to local cultural norms and aware that things that might seem like rather minor misdemeanours here can cause great offence elsewhere.

“We see this ourselves. We have things that we are very sensitive about - war memorials for example - that may not seem particularly significant to people who don’t understand the history and the culture behind them.

“Similarly when we go abroad we should be sensitive to local culture and local concerns.”

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