India to repatriate ill UK inmate

Tihar jail is India's largest prison

A seriously ill Briton serving a jail term for drugs offences in a notorious Indian prison is to see out his 10-year sentence in the UK, officials say.

Stephen Jenkins, 58, from Yorkshire, is being held in Delhi's crowded Tihar jail after being convicted in 2006.

Prison officials say he wants to die in his homeland. The UK says arrangements for his transfer are nearly complete.

Jenkins will be among the first inmates to benefit under a 2005 India-UK accord on prisoner transfers.

'Very happy'

"I want to die in my homeland. I can serve the rest of my imprisonment in my country's jail. Please send me," Jenkins wrote in his request for transfer, a Tihar prison official told the BBC.

The appeal was forwarded to the governments of India and the UK and accepted about a fortnight ago, the jail official said.

He said Jenkins had Aids and was set to leave for Britain in the second week of May.

Court orders bar Jenkins from talking to the media, but Tihar officials say he is "very happy" that he is going home.

"He is old and he is seriously ill. He thinks he will not survive his full sentence," the official said.

According to jail records, Stephen Jenkins is from Yorkshire in northern England and was unemployed before travelling to India.

The records say he was arrested in August 2004. In November 2006 he was sentenced to 10 years in jail for "peddling drugs".

Overcrowding

A spokeswoman for the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the details of the transfer were still being finalised.

"Procedures are in place to formalise the request and complete it," she told the BBC.

She could not confirm when Jenkins would return to the UK, or give any details on his medical condition.

She said a small number of prisoners had already been repatriated under the transfer accord.

Tihar, in the west of India's capital, is the country's biggest prison. It has the capacity to accommodate 6,250 inmates, but houses many more.

Last June, more than double that number were being held there and over 600 prisoners being held for minor offences were freed to ease congestion.

At least six inmates and one warder died in the searing summer heat.

Adequate drinking water and other basic amenities are scarce.