The British gap-year tourist Eleanor Hawkins is being released from custody in Malaysia after pleading guilty to committing obscene acts in public when she and nine others stripped for a dare on Mount Kinabalu.

A judge at a court in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah state, sentenced Hawkins and three others – Canadian siblings Lindsey and Danielle Petersen, and Dutch national Dylan Snel – to three days in jail from the time of arrest, 9 June, which means they have already served their time.

Ronny Cham, who represented Miss Hawkins in court, said she was relieved to be returning home. “She is pleased and happy,” he told the Press Association.

Her father Tim Hawkins said she was under consular protection and Malaysian authorities were “processing her for deportation”.

“We are hoping to get her back by Monday,” he said. “Hopefully we should get a chance to speak to her soon.” Prison guards said earlier that the four backpackers had not returned to the jail after the hearing, and did not have to wear handcuffs.

The four were also fined 5,000 Malaysian ringgit (£860) each. Hawkins left the court in tears as she was told she was to be freed after paying the fine.



The judge, Dean Wayne Daly, said: “This court accepted the plea of guilty as mitigation.” He also noted the remorse of the tourists, and accepted that although Hawkins was arrested at an airport “there was nothing to show Eleanor was absconding the law”.



Hawkins’s defence lawyer, Ronny Cham, said: “This is a happy ending to the whole episode.” He said he expected all four tourists to be deported after they had paid the fines.

Eleanor Hawkins arrives at court on Friday Guardian

Arriving handcuffed at court, the four defendants had to battle through a throng of reporters to enter the building. They pleaded guilty to committing obscene acts in a public place and agreed to apologise to the Malaysian people, after the stunt prompted an angry reaction in Sabah, where the mountain is regarded as sacred.



The judge decided against imposing the maximum sentence of three months in prison after the lawyer for the four said they were ignorant of local laws and customs and were sorry for what they had done.

Diplomats from the UK, the Netherlands and Canada were in court for the hearing. The Foreign Office refused to discuss the verdict, but a spokesman said: “We remain in contact with Ms Hawkins and her family following this morning’s court appearance, and will continue to provide consular assistance.”

Officials and tribal elders suggested the disrespectful act was linked to an earthquake that killed 18 people days later.

The four were among this group of backpackers who stripped on top of Mount Kinabalu. Photograph: Rex Shutterstock

Eleanor’s father, Tim, expressed relief at the verdict but said he was anxious to get his daughter safely back to the UK. Speaking by phone from his engineering business in Derby, he said: “We are relieved, but we don’t want to say too much because we want to protect Ellie. As far as we know she is currently under the protection of the consulate.”

He said he had not managed to speak to his daughter since the verdict. “We are waiting for the consular official to get her somewhere safe. We need to talk to the FCO about travel arrangements. As far as I’ve seen, it is immediate deportation.

“We really do want her home, but we’ve got no idea what is going to happen and when.”



Hawkins praised the diplomats in Malaysia. “They have done a fabulous job, they’ve been really helpful, really useful. And our local MP Maggie Throup has been very good as well.”

The charge, read out in court, was that at 6.45am on 30 May in the vicinity of Mount Kinabalu they carried out “obscene acts in a public place under 294 [a] of the penal code”. They were also accused of “excessive noise and ignoring the advice [of their guide]”. All four avoided trial by pleading guilty.

The public prosecutor had called for a “sentence to deter others”. He said their behaviour caused “annoyance to many Malaysians” and urged the judge to “take into account public sentiment” in the sentence.

Defence lawyer Ronny Cham Guardian

Cham pleaded for leniency: “Your honour, they were ignorant of the culture, tradition and belief of the local people … including the people of Sabah and Malaysia … This is a group of a young generation … who have more freedom and liberty to express their thoughts and ideas.”

Cham said the four stripped as they were “challenging one another to stand the cold of the mountain, to stand the temperature, which was near zero degrees”.

He said they had suffered “shame, ridicule and humiliation to themselves, their parents and possibly even their country … They have paid a heavy price … lost personal integrity and self esteem.”

Police in Malaysia are looking for six other foreigners who appeared in the nude photographs and were wanted for public indecency, a police officer involved in the case told the Guardian on Friday. “We think they are still in Sabah,” the officer revealed on condition of anonymity. “There is a possibility they have already left the country.”

He said Hawkins and her fellow detainees did not identify the others who were with them: “They said they didn’t know their full names, only nicknames.”

Another police source said border guards had been informed and were hoping to catch the others at airports.