An MP has called on the Foreign Secretary to make an urgent statement on the plight of an Otley man languishing in a Greek prison.

And last night, Greg Mulholland said he wanted a debate in Parliament about the treatment of Fran Prenga, 34, and other British citizens tied up in Greece’s legal system – claiming they had not received good assistance from the Government.

Mr Prenga has been detained in jail by Greek authorities since early May in connection with a spate of armed robberies in Athens in 2004 and 2005, despite protests from family and friends who say they have proof he is completely innocent.

But Mr Prenga, who missed his daughter’s first birthday due to his imprisonment, has not yet been formally interviewed or charged, while his wife Louise, has been flying back and forth to Greece dealing with lawyers to try to secure her husband’s release.

The family claim he is being kept in awful confines in a jail near Amfissa and Mr Mulholland, the MP for Leeds North West, wants the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, to deliver a statement to the House of Commons about Mr Prenga’s case and the state of the prison he being detained in.

Mr Mulholland says he has also written to Mr Hague, the British Embassy in Greece and Edward McMillan Scott, vice-president of the European Parliament, about the conditions Mr Prenga is being kept in and the seeming lack of support he has received from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

“It is deeply concerning that Mr Prenga finds himself languishing in terrible conditions in Greek custody, seemingly without even having been formally interviewed and with questions remaining over what or whether he has in fact been charged, with crimes his family say they have the evidence to prove to be untrue,” Mr Mulholland said in Parliament.