Partner of Scottish soldier jailed in India vows to never give up fight for his release
The partner of a British soldier jailed in India vowed to "never give up'' fighting for his release.
The partner of a British soldier jailed in India vowed to "never give up'' fighting for his release, as she delivered a petition to Downing Street asking the Government to intervene.
Billy Irving and five ex-soldiers are being held in "horrendous'' conditions, according to relatives.
They were sentenced to five years in prison on weapons charges after being detained while working as security guards on ships to combat the threat of pirates.
Indian authorities boarded their vessel and arrested them in 2013. After charges were quashed then reinstated, they were convicted in January and now face years in prison.
On Thursday, 1,000 days since the men were imprisoned, their families lobbied Parliament and handed over more than 372,000 signatures at Downing Street.
Corporal Irving's partner, Yvonne MacHugh, 27, said: "I am going over to India on Sunday. I am just going to be so happy to let them all know what is happening and that they are not forgotten, we have been down to Parliament, we have been down to Downing Street and we are doing all we can, and we will make sure that the British Government does all it can.''
Asked what she hoped the Government would do, she added: "That they will bring our boys home. They are innocent, so how can they not ask the Tamil Nadu government to release innocent men? It is not a case of waiting for the Indian judicial system to play out, because it has not worked.
"We will continue, we will hand this petition in as many times as it takes, until we bring our boys home. We will keep campaigning we will keep going and having meetings with MPs and with the various ministers, like (Foreign Minister) Hugo Swire.
"We will never give up. We will just keep going at it.''
She said she and Cpl Irving, from Connel, Argyll, Scotland, have a 16-month-old son, William, who does not know his father.
"It is hard. Every night I show him a picture of his dad and get him to kiss him. He knows who his daddy is in the picture, but he has no idea what a dad is because he has never had one.''
The other detained men are ex-paratroopers, John Armstrong, 28, from Wigton, Cumbria, Paul Towers, from Yorkshire, and Nicholas Simpson, from Catterick, North Yorkshire, and former soldiers in the Prince of Wales Regiment, Ray Tindall, from Chester, and Nick Dunn, of Ashington, Northumberland.
Their families are calling for the help of British MPs, and have the support of Captain Richard Phillips, whose name was made famous by the Tom Hanks film Captain Phillips, which received six academy award nominations.
Captain Phillips said: "I support masters', mates' and pilots' position calling for the immediate release of crew of the anti-piracy vessel Seaman Guard Ohio. They are caught in the Indian judicial system and deserve to receive justice.''