Journey To Hell

Scot Donald MacNeil was a law-abiding sailing instructor in the north of England when he was hired to skipper a yacht across the Mediterranean. The pay was good and the work was easy – or so he thought. But what he didn’t know was that the crew was on their way to Venezuela to collect one of the biggest shipments of cocaine ever bound for the UK.

In too deep and at the mercy of dangerous gangsters, MacNeil knew refusal to sail wasn’t an option but when the operation was bungled and the crew was caught red-handed by the Venezuelan National Guard, his pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears and he was sent to the notorious island prison of San Antonio – one of the worst jails on Earth.

Beaten and stripped of identity, confidence and self-respect, his moral compass was the only thing of value he had left in a place where hundreds are killed and thousands maimed every year in riots, vendettas and petty disputes. Thrown into a filthy, overcrowded cell and surrounded by armed gangs and crack addicts, he faced a daily fight to stay alive.

Through it all, and despite witnessing the brutal slaying of his close friend and mentor, MacNeil clung to the belief that one day he would be home. Journey To Hell is a harrowing but compelling account of one man’s extraordinary will to survive in a world gone mad.

What they said:

‘Harrowing, gripping and terrifying.’ THE SUN

‘The amazing story of the yachtsman who sailed into drugs disaster.’
DAILY RECORD

‘An amazing story of survival against the odds.’
THE WEEKLY NEWS