A FENCING contractor jailed in Cyprus could return to England in four months' time to serve the rest of his sentence.

Julian Harrington, 40, was sentenced to 15 years for wilful manslaughter and grievous bodily harm, after the rented car he was driving on the island collided with a moped in August 2006, causing the death of rider Christos Papiris, 17, and injuring passenger Marios Demetriou.

The father-of-one from Witham learned last week that his jail term will be reduced by one year, after the new Cypriot president gave all prisoners serving six years or more on the island a one-year cut.

He has now filed for transfer to Wandsworth prison in London, which could take four to five months to process.

However, the news of his potential return to England comes as his nephews, Luke Atkinson and Michael Binnington, were sentenced on Thursday to three years for culpable manslaughter and one year for grievous bodily harm (GBH), to run concurrently.

The 23-year-olds were passengers in Mr Harrington's car at the time of the crash and were arrested and later acquitted of any involvement.

But the Supreme Court overturned the acquittals without retrial, and the young men now face the possibility of having to fight extradition.

Maxine Scrivener, Mr Harrington's fiancee, said: "It won't be better for Julian because at the moment he is locked up while he is asleep, but in Wandsworth he will be locked up 23 hours a day while he is being assessed."