Chennai Six: '˜Eager to get home to families and friends'

Six former servicemen, including three from Yorkshire, have said how they are looking forward to seeing their families after their release from the notorious Puzhal Prison earlier this week.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Nov 2017, 15:31 BST
Updated 6th Dec 2017, 12:48 BST
Six British pirate hunters, including Yorkshire's Paul Towers, bottom right,have been freed from Chennai's notorious Puzhal PrisonSix British pirate hunters, including Yorkshire's Paul Towers, bottom right,have been freed from Chennai's notorious Puzhal Prison
Six British pirate hunters, including Yorkshire's Paul Towers, bottom right,have been freed from Chennai's notorious Puzhal Prison

The men, known as the Chennai Six, are expected home some time next week, after they get clearance to leave India, where they were arrested four years ago.

Paul Towers, 54, a former member of the Parachute Regiment from Pocklington; former Army sniper Ray Tindall, 42, originally from Hull; and Nicholas Simpson, 47, from Catterick, North Yorkshire, were among 35 crew arrested on the anti-piracy vessel MV Seaman Guard Ohio in October 2013.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The firearms charges were quashed in 2014, but an appeal followed from the Indian authorities and in 2016 they were convicted and sentenced to five years in jail.

In a joint statement the men, who won an appeal against their convictions on Monday, said: “After four long years, we, along with the 29 crew of the Seaman Guard Ohio, have been cleared by the Appeal Court. We want to thank the court for reaching this decision. We are all in good health and eager to return to our families and friends.”

They added: “We want to thank our legal counsel, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and The Mission to Seafarers for helping us reach this point.

“We have been glad to receive the many messages of support and care packages during our time in prison, and ask for time to reflect on our experience and to prepare for home.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The International Transport Workers’ Federation which has also supported the crew, has been strongly critical of the men’s treatment by their employer US firm AdvanFort. None of the men have been paid since their arrest.

Seafarers’ section chair, David Heindel, said: “At last there is some form of justice, even if it cannot restore to the men the time lost since their arrest in 2013.

Unfortunately, one glaring injustice remains: the scandal of AdvanFort getting off scot free, having washed its hands of its employees.”

Ben Bailey, director of advocacy at The Mission to Seafarers, which is paying for their accommodation and flights home, said they had a team of counsellors and support staff, if they needed it.

He said: “It has been a traumatic experience - whilst they are all ex-military and they will have had a degree of trauma training, nothing prepares you for the reality.”