The family of a deaf and disabled charity worker jailed for drug smuggling are flying to India to try to negotiate his release.

The sister and brother-in-law of Ian Stillman were first due to meet Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Tuesday.

Alison Phelps and Jerry Dugdale will then fly out on Wednesday to help Mr Stillman celebrate his 52nd birthday.

Mr Stillman, from Reading, is serving a ten-year prison term in Shimla after being found guilty of smuggling 20 kilograms of cannabis. He has always maintained his innocence.

Ian Stillman has lived in India for 30 years

His nephew Barny Phelps, from Leeds, told BBC News Online: "I think they are hoping to get some answers when they meet with Jack Straw.

"It is the first time he has met with us in the two-year period. That's progress.

"Once in India they hope to continue with negotiations.

"But they are mainly going out there for Ian's birthday, to give him some birthday cake."

Pardon hopes

Fair Trials Abroad has described the trial following Mr Stillman's arrest in August 2000 as a miscarriage of justice.

Although Mr Stillman, who only has one leg and suffers from diabetes, has been profoundly deaf since the age of two, the authorities refused him an interpreter.

His family and friends are pinning their hopes on a pardon application submitted to the Indian president in September 2002.

Mr Stillman has lived in India for 30 years, is married to an Indian woman and has set up charities in the country.