A SONG writing duo has penned an anthem for deaf charity worker Ian Stillman.

York poet Adrian Spendlow and musician Dan Webster wrote the song after reading about the 51-year-old's imprisonment in an Indian jail.

Their support comes as an Evening Press petition demanding Ian's release passes the 3,000 mark, and his case is taken up by deaf Labour peer Lord Ashley.

"A few things Ian has said really moved me," said Adrian.

"He's got a really strong belief in what he does, and comes across as a bit nave and innocent. I thought this is a really nice bloke. It seems he's more bothered about justice and other people than he is about himself.

"Then I heard he'd said that he no longer believed that a deaf person could survive in a hearing world, and I thought this has really got to him. That's what spurred me on to write this."

The song combines with a poem which calls for justice for Ian, whose parents live in Tadcaster Road, York, and who has diabetes and had a leg amputated after a road accident.

He is currently serving a ten year prison sentence for possession of 20kg of cannabis, which he has always denied.

This week, India's Supreme Court said they would not hear his appeal. It refused to hear evidence which lawyers claim proved wrong an earlier judgement that Ian was not really deaf.

The judge also said it was well known that the disabled in India, including the deaf, were used for drug trafficking.

Lord Ashley, who has been deaf for 25 years, said: "If the presiding judge made disparaging remarks about disabled people in general carrying drugs, it is difficult to see how he could arrive at an impartial and unbiased judgement.

"I am asking the Foreign Office to take up this development in the case."

Ian has been unable to hear anything since childhood.

At his original trial, he was denied a sign language translator, effectively excluding him from taking part in his trial.

Dan said: "I concentrated on the need for justice and the fact that he couldn't understand what was going on because he was deaf. It suggests that if this injustice isn't dealt with, then it will happen again and other disabled people will become the victims of it."

The duo plan to perform the song at live shows across York, with the next being in the First Hussar, in North Street, next Wednesday.

Ian has been living in India for the past 27 years and has set up a charity which has helped more than 1,000 deaf Indians.

Updated: 09:14 Wednesday, May 08, 2002