A NEILSTON woman has written a heartfelt open letter to the Duchess of Cambridge with a desperate plea to help bring her fiancé home.

Billy Irving, 35, was jailed for five years in India after he and 34 others were arrested on board an anti-piracy ship.

The country's authorities claimed that the the American vessel, on which Billy was working as a private security contractor, did not have permisiion to be in their territorial waters with weapons on board.

Now his distraught fiancee Yvonne MacHugh has appealed to Kate Middleton to help her bring "her own Prince William" home.

In the letter, posted on her Facebook page, she wrote: "On the face of it, you and I don’t have much in common, however what we do have is what has encouraged me to reach out to you and ask you for guidance, help and influence. 

"I too am in love with a Prince William. In fact, I’m in love with two Prince Williams."

Billy. a former Paratrooper,faces a long wait before he can see his 9 month old son William again, and Yvonne fears that the father of her child may miss his first day at school and other major milestones.

She a drew comparisons between the Duchess of Cambridge's husband, Prince William, and Billy, saying: "Like your Prince William, mine also served in the British Army. 

"He devoted ten years of his life to the army in the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment. 

"Serving in Afghanistan and Iraq he loved every minute of it, and is extremely proud of the soldier he became. Unfortunately, that pride he feels to have served his Queen and country is slowly fading."

Now she has appealed for the duchess to use her influence to aid the family in her plight, from "one young mum to another."

She said: "Now I’m faced with the reality that his father may not be there for his first day of school. Having seen the adorable pictures of your son George starting nursery recently, and knowing the joy that would have brought to both yourself and your husband, I cannot even begin to imagine how we will cope without Billy."