AS BUSINESSMAN Paul Cleasby approaches his tenth week in a Turkish jail, the country's ambassador to the UK has finally agreed to a meeting to discuss his plight, reports Michaela Robinson-Tate.

Mr Akin Alptuna has granted a request by Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins to meet him and Mr Cleasby's sister, Vanda Whitton, in London on December 21.

However, Mr Cleasby's family is desperately hoping that the meeting will not prove necessary, depending on the outcome of the businessman's trial next week.

Mr Collins requested the meeting with the ambassador as part of The Westmorland Gazette's Bail Not Jail campaign, launched in October.

North West Euro MP David Sumberg, who has taken an interest in Mr Cleasby's case and spoken out about Turkey's human rights record, has also been invited.

Mr Collins said: "We are going to meet at his private residence. It's a means of being able to look the Turkish ambassador in the eye and vouch for Paul's unimpeachable character.

"This is not some international art thief, it's just an ordinary man who's found himself in a terrible predic-ament. We want to get that across."

Mr Cleasby's sister, Vanda Whitton, said she and her family hoped they would not have to keep the appointment with the ambassador, and that her brother would be released from jail next Wednesday, December 8, when he is to appear at court.

However, after a disappointment last month, when his case was adjourned, Mrs Whitton said they were avoiding becoming too optimistic.

"We are all just sitting waiting, and hoping the best, but not really hoping for anything," she said.

"We are not really putting too much hope into it because you just get so disappointed."

Mrs Whitton said the family had appointed an additional lawyer, who had experience of similar cases, to work alongside Mr Cleasby's original lawyer.

Mr Cleasby, 42, from Windermere, was arrested in September at Antalya airport on his way home from holiday. He had a rock with him, which he had bought during his break, which the Turkish authorities said was a piece of marble. He was accused of smuggling antiquities and has since been held in jail.

As part of the Bail Not Jail campaign, 377 Gazette readers signed forms urging the Turkish authorities to release Mr Cleasby while he awaited his trial. MP Mr Collins delivered the forms to the Turkish ambassador, Mr Alptuna, in London.