Outcry after Otley man is seized on Greek holiday for 72 armed robberies

Fran Prenga, 34, was arrested by Greek authorities after attending a police station to fill in legal documents relating to a restaurant business he was investing in, his family said.

He was told police had been looking for him for four years in relation to 72 counts of armed robbery and one count of possessing a weapon without a licence in Athens, between 2004 and 2005.

His wife, Louise Prenga, of Otley, said Mr Prenga has been wrongly imprisoned and said the family holiday to the island of Rhodes earlier this month had turned into a horror story.

She has now turned to Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland for help.

Mr Mulholland said he has written to Foreign Secretary William Hague in an effort to help.

“The arrest and detention of Fran Prenga has been a shock to his family, friends and those who know him,” he said.

“The lack of support he and his family have received from the British Embassy in Greece has been extremely concerning, especially considering the conditions he is being kept in.

“This is clearly unacceptable and I have written to the British Ambassador in Greece and to the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, expressing my concerns about the treatment of Fran and urging them to offer him and his family all the support possible.”

Mrs Prenga has insisted her husband is innocent.

She said: “It’s like a living nightmare. You don’t believe it’s happening to you - it’s like a story you read about.”

“I’m completely frustrated and angry at the system over here as everything is taking so long.”

The family say they have witness statements and other documents proving Mr Prenga is not the person the Greeks are looking for.

Mrs Prenga said her husband, who was arrested on May 8, was being held in appalling conditions in the jail, three hours outside Athens.

“Fran’s physical condition has deteriorated and he’s now fighting infections from the horrendous unhygienic conditions in which he is being kept,” she told the paper.

Mr Prenga became a British citizen in 2008 and runs his own plumbing business.

He met his wife while she was on holiday in Rhodes and the couple married in Mr Prenga’s native Albania in 2005.