Working as an investigative journalist, he travelled in Indonesia, Brazil, and East Africa. His activities led to his being made persona non grata in several countries[7] and being sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in Indonesia.[8] In these places, he was also shot at,[9] beaten up by military police,[9] shipwrecked[9] and stung into a poisoned coma by hornets.[10] He came back to work in Britain after being pronounced clinically dead in Lodwar General Hospital in north-western Kenya, having contracted cerebral malaria.