Coronation Street bad boy Jim McDonald has vowed to lead the fight to bring a Cumbrian ex-soldier home.

John Armstrong has now spent almost 18 months in jail in Chennai, India, and has been unable to leave the country since his arrest in October 2013.

He is one of six Britons - all former soldiers - and among 35 men in total, who were all serving on board the Seaman Guard Ohio.

The fight to see charges against the men dropped and their names cleared has been championed by their family and friends in the UK, with John's sister Joanne Thomlinson leading the Cumbrian battle.

John, 29, was born and brought up in Wigton, where his parents still live.

The campaign has now been given a major boost, as Charlie Lawson - the much-loved Corrie bad boy - has stepped up to give his support.

Speaking to the News & Star, the 57-year-old actor explained he had been involved with the campaign to free Marine A - Sergeant Alexander Blackman.

The former Royal Marine had killed a wounded Taliban soldier and was convicted of murder. That conviction was eventually replaced with diminished responsibility manslaughter and he was freed - having spent three-and-a-half years in jail.

Lawson said: "I heard about the Chennai 6 through the Al Blackman campaign, and once that was over I wanted to know more.

"The problem is, the Chennai 6 isn't as sexy as the Marine A campaign, and there is confusion as to why they have been arrested.

"Some people have questioned if there was something 'dodgy' about it all. I can tell you here and now that there is nothing dodgy about this case or these men.


John Armstrong "The biggest problem the Chennai 6 face is that they are not getting the attention that they should or that they need."

The actor met Joanne and Lisa Dunn, sister of imprisoned Nick Dunn, to hear about the case. He initially promised them he would go away and think about it and get back to them after 24 hours to let them know if he would lead the campaign.

"I lasted 10 minutes," Lawson admitted, "before I stopped them and said 'let's get this out there now, I'm on board'.

"It seemed a natural progression from Al Blackman and there was no reason politically, financially or morally why anyone would not back this fight."

He is calling on the British Government to take action, and be firm in their dealings with the Indian authorities.

An appeal by the men against both their conviction and sentence was heard last year, but the result of that has still not been announced - more than six months later.

Lawson said: "We need to get that result and, if they get a retrial as they should, then we need to step it up and get people talking about them.

"These men need to be back home with their loved ones."

The crew of the ship was arrested off the coast of India three-and-a-half years ago. They were working for the American anti-piracy firm AdvanFort at the time.

After being thrown in jail for six months, released and having all charges quashed, the 35 men were then forced to face a trial and were convicted of illegally possessing firearms.

They were sentenced to five years hard labour.