Billy Irving’s fiancee is ‘petrified’

CONNEL man Billy Irving, imprisoned in India, will find out if he will be released on Monday.

The judge has been given until November 27 to decide whether or not to grant freedom for Billy and 35 other men who were jailed last January.

This information comes as the terminally-ill captain was repatriated on Monday November 20.

Billy and five other British ex-servicemen were sentenced to five years in an Indian prison in January 2016.

The men, known as the Chennai Six, were working as armed guards protecting ships from Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Authorities arrested the crew of the MV Seaman Guard Ohio for straying into Indian waters with unlicensed weapons.

Speaking to The Oban Times, Billy Irving’s fiancee, Yvonne MacHugh, said: ‘I can’t quite believe we finally have a date for a verdict. Since the day the five-year sentence was handed to Billy, our lives have been at a standstill.

‘Nearly two years we’ve waited for this day and now it’s finally here, I am utterly petrified.

‘We are so close to the end, yet still a million miles away from this hell we are living ending.

‘Everything does feel positive this time round, but you just cannot tell what will happen.

‘Our lives and the lives of 34 men and their families lie in the hands of one man – the judge.

‘All we want is for Billy to be home with us this Christmas.’