THE mother of jailed North Yorkshire man Peter Bleach spoke today of her hopes after it was revealed that Home Secretary Jack Straw was to make a personal appeal to the Indian Government on her son's behalf.

But Oceana Bleach, from Brompton-by-Sawdon, between Pickering and Scarborough, also called this first move by the British Government to raise the case "overdue".

She said she had no details of Mr Straw's intervention in the case of her son, an old boy of St Peter's School, York, who was jailed in Calcutta for dropping arms from an aircraft.

But she added: "I only hope it will work. It's overdue by far."

Mr Straw is to request that the case of Bleach, 48, is sped through the Indian courts so his appeal against a life sentence can be heard as quickly as possible.

It is the first time the British Government has decided to raise the ex-British Army officer's case and follows the release yesterday of the four Russians and a Latvian convicted alongside Bleach.

The six men were sentenced to life in February for "conspiring to wage war against India" after being convicted of making an arms drop to rebel fighters in West Bengal in 1995. As a result of strong pressure from the Russian authorities his co-accused have been released.

Asked whether she planned to visit her son in India, Mrs Bleach said: "It might happen, it might not. One will have to wait and see what Mr Straw does."