By BBC News Online's Chris Summers

Two men who robbed, molested and shot dead four tourists - two Britons and two Americans - on a luxury yacht in the Caribbean are to be executed.

But the parents of one of their victims is opposed to them being hanged.

Marvin Joseph, 26, and Mellanson Harris, 27, are set to die on the island of Antigua after the island's Mercy Committee turned down their plea for clemency.

Joseph and Harris were convicted four years ago of the murder of Britons Ian Cridland and Tom Williams and Americans Bill and Kathy Clever.

Cridland, 33, from Bursledon, Southampton, Williams, 22, from Salisbury, Wiltshire and their American crewmates were murdered when their yacht, Computacenter Challenger, weighed anchor off the coast of Barbuda, near Antigua, in January 1994.

The 65ft ketch was owned by Peter Ogden, owner of one of Britain's biggest computer dealerships.

Shortly before he was killed, Mr Cridland sent out a radio message saying: "This is one of the most beautiful places on the planet."

The victims were shot one after another and the judge described it as a "senseless, savage and sadistic execution".

Three men were arrested and one, Donaldson Samuels, 23, turned state's evidence and was eventually jailed for 15 years for manslaughter.

Death row

In January 1996 Harris and Joseph were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. They have been on death row ever since.

But in recent months several Caribbean nations have resumed executions after a long break - Trinidad and Tobago put to death 10 men last year and earlier this month the Bahamian authorities hanged a convict.

Now there are plans to make Harris and Joseph the first executions in Antigua for a decade.

Ronald Sanders, the Antigua and Barbuda High Commissioner to the UK, told BBC News Online: "The Mercy Committee met earlier this month, discussed their case and decided they did not deserve mercy. There were no special circumstances.

"It was pre-meditated murder. God knows what the motive was but they murdered the people, some of them quite painfully and it was well-planned and executed. They also molested them. It was horrible.

"They did not not just happen across these people and rob them."

Mr Sanders said no date had been set for the execution but he said he expected it to take place next month.

Mr Williams' parents, John and Beverley, are opposed to the hanging.

'Death penalty is wrong'

Mr Williams told the Southampton Daily Echo: "An eye for an eye is not justice.

"We don't agree with the death penalty or the taking of any life and I think I can speak for my whole family on that. I am surprised that this decision has been made."

He said: "Myself, my wife and Tom's sister Sian all feel the same way; the death penalty is wrong. It is wrong to take someone else's life, whether that be through the judicial process or by murder."

Mr Williams added: "We are two weeks from the sixth anniversary of Tom's death and it took a lot of soul searching for us to be able to feel as we do but at the same time understand the Caribbean has its justice system, and despite what we feel in our heart we shall have to be content to let their justice run its natural course."

'Public opinion is pro-hanging'

Colin James, associate editor of the Antigua Sun newspaper, told BBC News Online: "No date has been set by the attorney general but last time he spoke about it he was very firm that the sentence would be carried out."

He added: "It would be the first execution in about 10 years but public opinion here is very pro-hanging."

Amnesty International spokesman Richard Bunting told BBC News Online: "If the executions go ahead it will be a setback for human rights in the region, especially as this year the UN is urging the world's governments to introduce a ban on the death penalty to mark the year 2000.

"Unfortunately several countries in the Caribbean have been bucking the worldwide trend towards abolition and have been carrying out executions despite the fact that there is no evidence that executions have a deterrent effect on crime."

The pair will have recourse to the judicial committee of the Privy Council in London, which is the "court of last resort", but it has not blocked recent executions in the Caribbean.