A SCOTTISH pirate hunter in prison in India is in danger becoming “the forgotten man”, his local MP has warned.

Billy Irving, originally from Connel, Argyll, is among six ex-service personnel who were arrested when their vessel was seized in October 2013 when their ship strayed into their territorial waters.

Customs officials found 35 guns and 6,000 rounds of ammunition on board, but the men insisted they had the necessary permits.

Though initially the firearms charges against them were dropped, prosecutors were successful in pursuing an appeal and the men are now serving five-year sentences in the Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai. An appeal has been lodged and is now with the Indian High Commissioner.

Brendan O’Hara, the SNP MP for Argyll and Bute, raised Irving’s plight on two occasions at Westminster last week.

He met with Foreign Office minister Mark Field MP, who has a specific remit for Asia and the Pacific, to put further pressure on the government to do more to secure the release of the six men, who have become known as the “Chennai 6”.

He said: “This was my seventh meeting in just two years with my third Foreign Office Minister to highlight Billy’s case and to keep the pressure on the government urging them to use all of their diplomatic influence to make sure that Billy is returned to his family in Scotland where he belongs.

“Whilst I do not doubt the sincerity of the UK Government in wanting to see the release of Billy and the others of the Chennai 6, I fear that the UK Government are no further forward than they were two years ago.”

In September last year Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was accused by MP Kirsten Oswald of abandoning Irving and his colleagues, who were working for US company Advanfort when they were arrested.

She said: ““Billy and his colleagues have protested their innocence from the very start and I think the new Foreign Secretary can and should be doing more to assist them as UK citizens.

“What I want to hear from Boris Johnson is that he is aware of this situation and what he is able to bring to it. I appreciate he is busy dealing with the Brexit mess he helped create – but nonetheless these issues cannot just slip from the plate.’’

At the time a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman responded, saying the UK could not “interfere” in the independent legal system of another country but that efforts to find a swift resolution were continuing.

Since he has been in prison, 35-year-old former paratrooper Irving has become a father, and his fiancee Yvonne MacHugh, 27, has been desperately trying to secure his release and return to Scotland, travelling to India to support him.

O’Hara said yesterday: “This is a very difficult situation for Billy, who has missed the first two years of his son’s life for a crime that he did not commit. I will continue to do whatever I can as Billy’s MP to campaign for his release and will continue to work closely with his partner Yvonne to support her in keeping this cause on the political agenda.”

The other five pirate hunters sentenced alongside Irving are Nick Dunn, from Ashington; Ray Tindall, from Chester; Paul Towers, from Yorkshire; John Armstrong, from Wigton, Cumbria; and Nicholas Simpson, from Catterick, North Yorkshire.

Their families all insist there has been a miscarriage of justice and have also attacked AdvanFort for abandoning the men, saying they have not been paid since November 2013.