‘Britain’s worst stalker’ could hold key to freeing British parents imprisoned in Iran

A British couple held in Iran are calling for the UK government to release an Iranian stalker who has been jailed in Britain for 20 years.

Craig and Lindsay Foreman were arrested in January 2025 while travelling through Iran on a round-the-world motorbike tour.

A month earlier, Richard Jan was blocked by the parole board from being deported.

Foreign Office policy does not usually allow for the exchange of prisoners in order to secure the release of British nationals incarcerated abroad.

However, Mr and Mrs Foreman, both 53, believe Jan’s release is their only route to freedom, the Independent reported.

It comes as Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy suggested this morning that a deal could be made to return the parents to the UK.

The pair were sentenced to 10 years in prison for charges of espionage, which they both deny.

Jan was originally sentenced back in July 2004, when he was found guilty on charges of arson with intent to endanger life and causing public nuisance.

He was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of seven-and-a-half years behind bars.

In 2010, the biochemist, born in London to Iranian parents, renounced his British citizenship in anticipation he would be deported once his term was up.

But his removal was blocked by the Ministry of Justice in 2013 over concerns it would undermine the criminal justice system if he was allowed to leave for Iran.

Seven years later, a High Court judge dismissed an application for a judicial review of the government decision.

The parole board then considered Jan’s case in 2021, concluding that the 56-year-old’s license conditions were unlikely to be upheld in Iran, despite confidence his mental health issues could be managed.

Iranian officials have previously raised Jan in relation to other Britons incarcerated in Iran, including author Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was kept in the Middle Eastern country for more than six years.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was finally let go in 2022 after Britain settled a £400 million debt owed in relation to a weapons deal from 40 years ago.

During negotiations for Ms Zaghari Ratcliffe’s release, then-Iranian ambassador to the UK Mohsen Baharvand brought up Jan’s with MP Tulip Siddiq.

Jan was once again refused release to Iran in 2024 by a parole board panel on the grounds he could not be monitored there.

Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Mr Lammy said ‘arrangements can be made’.

He said: ‘It would not be right for me to comment on the particularity because it would undermine the discussions we’re having with the Iranians.

‘Of course arrangements can be made of that kind, but the specifics on this would not be right and I’m not sure from what I’ve heard this is credible.’

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