Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Chennai Brit: I found love in an Indian jail
Romance revealed as Nick is reunited with his family
ONE of the Chennai Six wept as he was welcomed home by his sister, and revealed he found love during his four-year hell in an Indian jail.
Nick Dunn, 31, said he had met his Indian girlfriend Monalisa Das, 27, an IT worker, in a bar while he was briefly out on bail in July 2015.
When he was sent back to jail in 2016 she became a “ray of sunshine”, standing by him in his “darkest times”.
Nick was first jailed in 2013, along with Irving, 37, Paul Towers, 54, Nicholas Simpson, 47, Ray Tindall, 42, and John Armstrong, 30, on charges of smuggling weapons and ammunition.
The men, who had been guards on a ship combating piracy in the Indian Ocean, were freed on appeal last week.
Nick was reunited with his mum Margaret, 63, dad Jim, 71, and sister Lisa, 38, at Newcastle Airport yesterday.
He now hopes Monalisa will visit him at his home in Ashington, Northumberland. He said: “Now the biggest hurdle really is if we can keep the relationship going. We are going to take it slow and see what happens.
“She won’t be coming any time soon, not in this weather.”
But he joked that “the British weather” was one of the “little things in life” he missed while locked up in temperatures that hit 40C.
Nick paid tribute to his “amazing” sister Lisa, who campaigned for his release. He said: “She deserves a knightbilly hood. She’s worth her weight in gold. I am going to have the best Christmas ever. I’m the happiest man alive.”
Ray Tindall celebrated his return home to Chester with a pint. Ray, whose daughter was four when he left and is now eight, said: “There is no point looking to the past. If you’re angry, you can’t progress because you can’t forgive.”