EAST Renfrewshire's Member of Parliament has called on the UK Government to secure the release of an anti-piracy seaman imprisoned in India.

Kirsten Oswald MP is fighting to help bring Billy Irving home to his family in Neilston after an Indian court ruled the 35-year-old and six other former British soldiers had entered the country's waters with illegal weapons in October 2013.

Billy was jailed on firearms charges for five years in January after it was deemed the MV Seaman Guard Ohio ship he was employed on had strayed into Indian waters without sufficient documentation for the guns and ammunition it had on board.

All six men have continued to protest their innocence and presented documentary evidence to support their argument.

Billy's fiancée Yvonne McHugh, 27, was left with little hope of welcoming her partner home to see their one-year-old son William start school when he was denied bail from his Chennai prison in March.

The ex-paratrooper has only spent a fortnight with his son since he was born 16 months ago.

After hearing of the bail dismissal, Yvonne took to a Facebook page dedicated to keeping friends and family up-to-date with Billy's situation where she wrote: "Bail has been rejected.

"That’s at least another four months locked up in that hell hole, with no communications with family and friends.

"Their lives and freedom stolen from them, and all for what?

"This verdict has left me with little hope of getting Billy back before William starts school and has left me completely crushed."

Kirsten Oswald MP hosted a cross-party parliamentary event with the seamen's families to place additional pressure on the Government to act.

She then joined fellow MPs and the affected families in presenting a petition to 10 Downing Street which featured 35,000 signatures demanding governmental action on the issue.

Kirsten said: "Families like Billy Irving's, where his little son William faces growing up and going to school without his dad, are in limbo, with their family life in tatters.

"The strategy of leaving things well alone has not paid off. The UK Government has secured the release of people from other countries who have admitted their guilt.

"So, there is a terrible irony here, if these men, who have consistently protested their innocence and backed it up with documentary evidence, can’t be helped simply because they are not prepared to say they are guilty when they are not.

"The families involved have worked tirelessly since the men were first taken into custody. No one could have done more than they have, and I applaud each and every one of them for the dedication they have shown."

Anyone who wants to follow the ongoing situation can do so by liking the 'Bring Billy Back' Facebook page.