FOREIGN Secretary Boris Johnson ignored letters from the partner of jailed Chennai Six Scot Billy Irving, his partner claims.
Yvonne MacHugh also branded Johnson’s predecessor Philip Hammond “useless” throughout her four-year campaign for his release.
The former soldier was among five other Britons held in India on weapons charges related to an anti-piracy mission. He touched down at Glasgow Airport last week after authorities there finally acquitted them.
Johnson said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) had worked “unstintingly” on the case.
But in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Yvonne said: “For Boris Johnson to hint that he had some part in their return is the height of hypocrisy. I’ve written to him a number of times asking for a meeting and never had a reply. How dare he.”
Irving, 37, described how the men lived on rotten food and “disgusting” drinking water while in jail, where he contracted dysentery and lost three stone in weight. He missed the birth of son William, who until now had only met his father three times in jail.
He said: “I can never forgive the UK Government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We would have been freed much sooner if they had really engaged in our plight and fought for us. I feel disgusted and betrayed.”
Yvonne said the FCO had “put business ventures before lives”, adding: “I found Philip Hammond to be useless and uninterested at best, though foreign officer Hugo Swire did engage with us and met the families.
“Billy and the other men would’ve been free two years ago if they had been truly there for us.”
The UK Government said the case had been raised more than 50 times at ministerial level and nine times with the Indian PM since October 2013.
The FCO said: “The UK Government was delighted that the men were released and the Foreign Secretary also paid tribute to those who campaigned for them. The Foreign Office worked tirelessly behind the scenes to reunite these men with their families. This included lobbying on their behalf [and] visiting them in prison.” updating their families and maintaining close contact with their legal team.”
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