Puneet Nicholas Yadav 

New Delhi: The hope to die on his native soil just got dimmer for terminally ill British national Stuart Jenkins, who has been languishing in the Tihar Jail for over four years on charges of drug peddling.

Jenkins, who was to be flown back to Britain on Thursday, to complete the rest of his 10-years imprisonment term in a British jail, after the Union home ministry accepted his plea on humanitarian grounds, will now have to spend at least one more month in the prison in the absence of an escort to take him back to the UK.

Jenkins was lodged in the high security prison on August 31, 2004 on charges of drug peddling and was awarded a 10-year jail term on November 2, 2006.

Following steady deterioration in his health after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, the British national, a few months back, had written to the home ministry requesting that he be sent back to Britain. In his plea, Jenkins wrote, “I want to die in my homeland. I can serve the rest of my imprisonment in my country’s jail. Please send me.”

The plea was accepted recently under an agreement on the transfer of sentenced prisoners. However, as Jenkins was getting prepared to fly back to Britain on Thursday morning, jail officials informed him that his travel had been postponed by a month due to “administrative reasons”.

The official revealed that Jenkins broke down when he was given the distressing news and went back to his cell. “He remained quite for a long while and refused to interact with anybody,” the official said.

Jenkins had earlier expressed to jail authorities that owing to his deteriorating health, he felt that he may not be able to live long enough to see his motherland and had thus pleaded for his transfer to a British jail.

Source : DNAIndia