The two British nurses whose murder sentences were commuted by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia are expected to arrive back in Britain today, after the Foreign Office confirmed they would be released from custody and would return home within hours. The families of the two nurses, Ms Lucille McLauchlan (32) and Ms Deborah Parry (39), had spent many tense hours yesterday waiting for confirmation from the Foreign Office that the women would be released as the British consul in Saudi Arabia, Mr Simon Lovett, travelled to Damman Central Prison in Dhahran to arrange their exit documents.
It emerged last night that Ms McLauchlan is to face another court case when she returns home to Scotland. She has been ordered to appear at Dundee Sheriff Court next month on two charges of theft. Ms McLauchlan and Ms Parry were imprisoned in December 1996 for the murder of their colleague, Ms Yvonne Gilford, an Australian theatre nurse who had reportedly moved to Saudi Arabia because she believed the country to be safe. In August last year, Ms Parry was found guilty of stabbing Ms Gilford and sentenced to death, although the Foreign Office was not able to confirm the sentence. Ms McLauchlan, who was found guilty of being an accessory to murder, was sentenced to eight years in prison and 500 lashes.
The public outcry that followed the sentencing was recognised by Ms Gilford's brother, Mr Frank Gilford, when he waived the right under Islamic law to demand the death penalty and Ms McLauchlan was also spared from being lashed.
Meanwhile, as family and friends prepared to celebrate Ms McLauchlan's return to Dundee, it emerged that her family had signed an exclusive "six-figure" deal with the Daily Mirror.
The celebrity publicist, Mr Max Clifford, rejected criticism that Ms McLauchlan was profiting from Ms Gilford's murder.
The deal drew an angry response from the Labour MP, Mr George Galloway, who wrote to the Press Complaints Commission yesterday urging it to prevent a bidding war in the media. He said that both women were convicted of Ms Gilford's murder and that "criminals are not supposed to profit from their crimes".
Mirror editor Piers Morgan yesterday explained why his newspaper had bought the rights to the story of Ms McLauchlan. "Her story is a sensational account of how a young woman was wrongfully framed for a crime she did not commit, beaten into a false confession during a week of unrelenting physical and sexual abuse, and finally sentenced to a public flogging and years in jail.
"We have paid her a substantial sum to provide some small compensation for two years spent in primitive, barbaric conditions.
"If she was guilty of murder, would the Prime Minister have gone to such lengths to intervene and get her released? As to George Galloway's ludicrous statement, I don't think we need to defend our ethical and moral position to a man who spends his lunchtime cosying up to Saddam Hussein and his evenings dining with Col Gadafy", he said.
Rosie Boycott, editor of the Express, later confirmed that her paper had entered into an agreement with Ms Deborah Parry and her family to tell her story exclusively.