Brit dad facing jail in Thailand after mistakenly picking up stranger's phone in bar

Brit dad facing jail in Thailand after mistakenly picking up stranger's phone in barRory McColl, from Edinburgh, was only hours into his trip to Thailand when he accidentally picked up a woman's phone in a bar - now his family says he is unable to come home and faces jailNewsRyan Carroll and Joe Smith News Reporter18:48, 04 Apr 2026View 2 ImagesRory McColl, 37, accidentally lifted a stranger's phone from a bar after mistaking it for his own(Image: GoFundMe)A dad is facing jail in a Thai hellhole prison after he accidentally picked up a woman's phone in a bar, his family said.‌Rory McColl, from Edinburgh, told how he confused the woman’s phone with his own and picked it up just hours after arriving for a holiday in Bangkok on March 9.‌The 37-year-old owned up to the mistake but was accused of theft and spent the first two nights of his trip in a filthy cell, the Daily Record reports.‌After forking out £1,000 in bail money to be released from jail, cops seized Rory’s passport. He has now been stranded in the south-east Asian country for almost a month as he waits for a court date.View 2 ImagesThe brit had just arrived in Bangkok when the incident occured(Image: Getty Images)His sister Joanna McLaughlin fears her brother will be sentenced to jail time.‌She said: "Rory was arrested on the first night of his holiday due to a misunderstanding. He normally keeps his phone in his pocket and had forgotten that he had a travel waist bag where he was keeping his valuables."At some point, he went to get his phone, couldn't find it in his pocket and saw the same phone as his sitting on the bar. He picked it up thinking it was his and put it in his pocket."The girl whose phone it actually was saw him taking it and involved the police, thinking he had stolen it. By the time Rory realised his mistake, the police were arresting him and taking all his belongings."‌Rory claims he was subjected to "horrendous conditions" in a Thai...