A new interview has given a glimpse into the bizarre romance between Bali Nine member Scott Rush and high-flying London lawyer Nikki Butler as the pair prepare to get hitched.
Scott Rush, 28, is one of the infamous group of nine young Australians known as the “Bali Nine” who were arrested and jailed for attempting to smuggle in over 8kgs of heroin into Indonesia from Australia. Originally sentenced to death in 2006, a 2011 appeal saw Scott’s sentence reduced to life imprisonment.
Nikki Butler, mother-of-two and ten years Scott’s senior, is based in London, where she works in the legal team of a large investment bank.
Now it seems that the unlikely pair have found true love as they gushed about their romance, and their impending nuptials on Sunday night’s 60 Minutes.
Scott proposed from inside his jail cell at Bali’s Karangesem prison: “He got down on one knee, in a cage,” Nikki said, laughing.
Related: Sydney woman arrested in Bali on drug possession
The pair had met briefly the week before Scott’s arrest back in 2005 when they spent a boozy afternoon together on the beach in Bali after meeting that morning.
Nikki never heard anything more of him until January 2013 when she saw a story on UK TV about the British Grandmother who was arrested in Bali on drug charges. The news report showed the footage of the Bali Nine, and she recognised Scott’s picture. “I just didn’t ever forget him,” she said.
She soon got in touch but didn’t visit him for the first time until early this year. It seems that the prison romance has been a whirlwind one, as she had only been back to Bali to visit him a couple more times since then, before he proposed in June.
Related: Bali drug suspect left secret note, dashed for ‘holiday’
Nikki seems to be having no regrets about her decision to devote herself to the man behind bars. “I don’t want to be with anyone else, he’s the only person I want to be with,” Nikki said.
With two small children and a divorce to finalise though, Nikki does not deny that those around her have questioned her decisions. “Everyone keeps saying to me, it’s a midlife crisis!” she said.
When asked if it was, she replied, “I don’t know for me, he just came along at the right time.”
“I don’t care what other people think of me,” Nikki continued. “I just happen to love somebody…You don’t pick who you fall in love with.”
So how do things work on the physical side of their relationship? Nikki said: “That’s not something that I’d want to discuss on camera”.
In an interview with News Corp in June, Nikki said: “I love him … I know the person Scott is and he is a really, really beautiful person. I don’t really see him as a criminal. It’s not like he was a murderer or rapist. He did something really stupid when he was (young) and he has paid for it. I don’t think he is a criminal to be honest. I think he has been punished ten times over. He is not a serial killer.”
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“How do you think you’d fit into the lifestyle that Nikki has at the moment?” Tara Brown asked Scott on the 60 Minutes report.
“I think I’d fit in pretty well,” he replied with what appeared to be a smirk as he sucked on an e-cigarette.
The television interview comes not long after footage of Scott was leaked online that allegedly shows him smoking crack in prison. The former drug addict admits that he has struggled with the temptation of drugs inside Karangesem prison (where they can reportedly still be readily accessed) but that he is now reformed after giving up heroin in February and that he wants to clean up his act for his new fiancé.
“He has got a rule, I am not marrying him if he is doing any drugs,” Ms Butler told News Corp in June.
Currently on methadone after giving up heroin in February, plus sedatives to help him sleep, Scott appeared a little on the hazy side during his television interview from inside the prison. When Tara Brown asked him if he had taken anything that morning, Scott replied, “No. Why? Do I look like I have?”
When asked if he thought he’d be able to resist the drugs if he was to live a free life with Nikki, Scott replied, “Yes, I can resist the drugs. [She’s] my drug now”.
Related: Schapelle Corby leaves Kerobokan jail
As to whether he can turn his life around, Scott does seem to show signs of remorse saying that “Yes of course,” he is sorry for what he did.
“I do care about the Australian public…my fellow citizens…I’m afraid they don’t want me as part of their society …as such a notorious criminal.”
He continued: “I need to show them my life is turning around… I want to be a productive member of society.”
So it sounds like Nikki could be the key to helping him turn his life around. When Tara asked if it was just Nikki’s money that Scott was after, he replied: “That’s just ridiculous…She helps me with money…I don’t feel good about taking money from her.”
Scott continued: “I’m wiling to give up the rest of my life to make her happy in anyway that I can.”
Related: Schapelle’s Freedom: She’s dancing with joy!
For a convicted drug smuggler jailed for life, Scott doesn’t seem to have too much trouble with the ladies. It’s believed that Nikki is not even his first pretty suitor from the outside world since landing in the big house.
American woman Karen Hermiz was linked to Scott back in 2011 when she was visiting him in his cell on a daily basis, although reports that the pair were planning to wed were never confirmed.
Scott and Nikkis would not be the first Bali Nine wedding either, with fellow Bali Nine crew member Martin Stephens marrying his Indonesian sweetheart Christine Puspayanti in a Christian service behind bars back in 2011.
As to what happens next for the couple while Scott is stuck in life in prison? They are hoping that Rush will succeed in his bid to have his life sentence reduced to a sentence of 15 or 20 years. His only chance for that though is clemency, which can only be granted by the President
For the moment though, Nikki is still based in London and visiting Scott as often as possible. Even though to outsiders, it may seem that they never have any hope of living a normal life, Nikki said: “We believe in a happy ending.”
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