FORMER Celtic ace Jack Hendry is fighting to secure the release of a Royal Navy sailor pal imprisoned in Bahrain after he intervened to stop a fight.
The ex-Hoops stopper, 29, is using his connections in the Middle East to try free Owen Haggerty, 22, who was locked up after he broke up a brawl between another seaman and an Egyptian singer.
Owen is serving three months in brutal Al Hidd jail[/caption]
Loved ones say the only way he will get out early is if he hands over £50,000[/caption]
The Scotland international is close friends with the crewman’s brother and is providing aid to his family after signing for Saudi Arabian premiership side Al-Ettifaq.
Owen is serving three months in the brutal Al Hidd jail and loved ones say the only way he will get out early is if he hands over £50,000 in compensation to the entertainer who suffered a “cut nose and bump to the head”.
The sailor’s mum Kirsty Reynolds, 41, told The Scottish Sun: “Jack has been a huge support.
“He lives out there and has been helping Owen’s brother with a visa so that he can get over to visit him and attend court hearings.
“Jack has offered to get the officials at his club to try and intervene.
“He says it’s all about who you know and that these influential people might be able to help.
“It’s money over morals.”
Owen, from Johnstone, Renfrewshire, had spent four months in the Middle Eastern island state serving on minesweeper HMS Bangor.
He was on his first deployment since signing up two years ago and told loved ones he was “desperate” to travel to Bahrain.
The able seaman had been out with pals to mark their last night on duty when he was picked up by cops on Valentine’s Day.
Owen had stepped in when a spat between another military man and a musician turned physical.
He separated the pair then stayed behind to calm the situation when he was taken in by police.
Beauty salon boss Kirsty told how she was informed her lad had been arrested hours before he was due to return home.
She said: “I was at work when I got a call from a Bahrain number and thought maybe Owen was ringing with some final travel details.
“Instead it was his Navy officer who asked my name and confirmed I was Owen’s next of kin.
“The colour drained from my face.
“I thought the worst had happened, then he told me Owen had been arrested for assault.
“I felt like I was going to faint and my client had to jump up and grab me a seat.
“I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing — my son isn’t a fighter.”
Owen was remanded for five weeks in a detention centre while the case against him was built.
He was only allowed to call home once a week for 15 minutes but told his mum he had been shown CCTV footage which “quite clearly” showed him pulling apart the two men.
His court case was repeatedly pushed back, with a judge ordering investigators to check every camera within miles of where the scuffle took place.
Owen’s football academy boss brother Jack Haggerty, 29 — a former Aidrieonians player who met Hendry while both were coming up in the game — travelled over for the final hearing on Wednesday when he was sentenced.
Kirsty added: “After asking for all the CCTV footage it wasn’t even mentioned.
“Our lawyer wasn’t even allowed to speak.
“The judge spoke for 10 seconds and it was all over.
“We’ve been told the only way to get him out of this is to pay £50,000 in compensation to the singer.
“The guy didn’t even have to take time off work.
“We’re just a normal working class family, we don’t have that kind of money.”
Kirsty has only had a few brief video calls with Owen since he was locked up last month where he broke down crying and told her: “Mum, I didn’t do it.”
She told how her son had no marks on his hands or blood on his clothes when he was arrested and believes a Royal Navy reservist he had made friends was the one involved in the fight.
The beautician has been trying to decipher a 75-page case file written wholly in Arabic in a bid to find something the court may have missed.
Owen has been moved to tough Al Hidd, where human rights campaigners have warned of abuses and up to 12 prisoners share a cell and are forced to go to the toilet in a hole in the ground in front of each other.
He is relying on a fellow prisoner to translate for him and is subsisting on a diet chicken and rice.
Kirsty said: “This is a miscarriage of justice.
“My son is innocent but he’s locked up with all sorts of murderers and criminals.
“We were so proud when he joined the Navy and all his family and friends were at his passing out parade to cheer him on.
“He was desperate to travel the world and so excited when the chance to go to Bahrain came up.
“Now we don’t know if he’ll even have a job when he gets out.
“Owen told me he feels he has been hung out to dry.
“My son can’t go on mentally or physically much longer — we need to get him home.”
Mum-of-three Kirsty says Navy chiefs have opened an investigation but are unable to provide her with any details.
She blasted the British embassy which she says have been “useless” and “slow” and has called for the Ministry of Defence and he UK and Scottish governments to get her boy out.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British national detained in Bahrain”
The Royal Navy was approached for comment.
