Scandalous that Billy is still in jail

IT IS outrageous that Connel man Billy Irving is still incarcerated in a prison in India.

Billy, as many readers will know, was arrested on charges of illegal possession of firearms when their piracy protection vessel strayed into India waters.

What some may have overlooked is that his arrest was way back in 2013, yet Billy remains stuck in the nightmare of a Chennai jail. The Indian criminal justice system saw fit to drop the charges at one point but then reinstated them and Billy and his crew mates were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment back in January this year. His father, Jim, recalled in a moving letter to The Oban

Times in October: ‘We thought the whole episode to be a stupid mistake by the Indian authorities … they do not seem to be big enough to admit their mess-up and for the past three years 35 men, plus their families and associated friends, have been in a living hell trying to get a sensible and speedy conclusion to what was a joke to start with and has now matured into a catastrophe.’

Billy’s fiancée Yvonne MacHugh has fought a valiant campaign to win his release. She has had backing from countless people, including an intervention from Prime Minister Theresa May, yet Billy’s predicament continues. Why? What is the reason for such stasis? I realise there are diplomatic channels to be negotiated but it is high time our government at Westminster demanded the Indian authorities release Billy.