Lindy: My heart bleeds for Schapelle

SYDNEY - Lindy Chamberlain has written to Schapelle Corby, telling the convicted drug smuggler "my heart bleeds for you".

Corby, 27, was sentenced to 20 years' jail after being found guilty last month of smuggling 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali.

Lawyers for the former Gold Coast beauty school student are appealing the conviction and sentence given by a Balinese court.

Her case has been likened to that of Chamberlain - now Chamberlain-Creighton - who was jailed for life in 1982 over the death of her daughter Azaria. She spent three-and-a-half years behind bars, despite arguing her baby had been taken by a dingo while the family was camping at Uluru in 1980.

She was freed in 1986 and officially pardoned in 1987.

Her conviction was quashed the following year.

She told this week's New Idea she had written to Corby, who is just a few years younger than she was when jailed.

"Being set up by others to look or be guilty is a major kick in the gut ... Seeing your verdict and reaction to it made me feel like I had been kicked all over again," she wrote.

"My heart bleeds for you."

She said Corby needed to "hear the truth and the facts, no matter how hard it was".

She said suicide was a "coward's way out" and encouraged Corby to keep up her faith. "God is your only judge," she said.

She also advised Corby to use the lawyers made available to her by the federal Government and to "keep quiet" so she would not ruin her chances of a release.

Chamberlain-Creighton also said the media attention would eventually die down.

"The public will get over its frenzy and you will soon settle into a lonely and boring routine with self-doubt and questions of 'why?' that will plague you."

In a separate letter, which she addressed to Australia, she warned the public against judging Indonesia and its legal system.

"It is important we all understand the rules of Indonesian law and help Schapelle uphold them," she said.

"She has to prove her innocence to an Indonesian court - not you - by law."

- AAP