News Digest

Brit freed over nude photos on sacred peak happy to be heading home

A British woman - along with three other young tourists - are being deported from Malaysia this morning after being sentenced to three days in jail and fined £1,000 for posing naked on a sacred mountain. Eleanor Hawkins, 23 - along with Canadian siblings Danielle and Lindsey Petersen, and Dylan Snel from the Netherlands - have already spent three days in custody leading up to the court appearance so are set to leave the country immediately. Speaking from outside the court, Sky News Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said the four had been “very relieved” on hearing the verdict.

Eleanor knows what she did was wrong and disrespectful and she is deeply sorry for any offence she has caused to the Malayan people.

Tim Hawkins, Eleanor’s father

Miss Hawkins, who was handed over to immigration officers at midnight, has said she is “pleased and happy” to be returning to the UK. Her father, Tim, said the sentence was “appropriate and fair for the offence committed”. Borneo’s dominant indigenous tribe, the Dusun, claimed the Westerners’ behaviour on the mountain, regarded by them as the resting place of the dead, upset their gods and caused a 5.9 earthquake days later which killed 18 people and left hundreds stranded. The four who appeared in court are among 10 people who are alleged to have been involved in the nude stunt, and the other six are still being sought by authorities.