A former soldier from Argyll is finally on a plane home to Scotland after being freed from his Indian prison.
Billy Irving’s fiancee Yvonne MacHugh announced the good news on the Bring Billy Back Facebook page this morning.
Mr Irving, from Connel, near Oban, will spend his first Christmas with their two-year-old son William.
The statement on Bring Billy Back said: “Billy is finally on a plane home:
“After over four long excruciating years we can breathe a sigh of relief that Billy will soon be home with his family and friends.
“We would like to thank everyone for your support over the last four years. We cannot stress enough how much it has helped in the fight to bring Billy back and we would have been at a loss without all our family, friends and supporters world wide.
“We’d like to thank the legal team, the charities who supported us especially the mission to seafarers, the #chennai6 campaign team who have just been incredible, our MPs and the media who helped with our fight for freedom.
“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Mr Irving and five other former British ex-soldiers – known as the Chennai Six – were working as security guards on a ship to combat piracy in the Indian Ocean.
They were arrested on illegal weapons charges in October 2013 and have been trapped in India until now.
But last week the Indian court upheld their appeal, finding them not guilty.
The charges were initially quashed when the men argued the weapons were lawfully held for anti-piracy purposes.
But a lower court reinstated the prosecution and they were convicted in January last year and sentenced to five years in jail. The conviction was thrown out on appeal.
