The wife of Ryan Cornelius, a British businessman held in Dubai's central prison for nearly 18 years, has appealed to Andy Burnham for help after previous requests to former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer went unanswered. Heather Cornelius says her family fears her 72-year-old husband could die in custody, and she plans to hand a letter to the Prime Minister on Monday urging him to intervene, following years of what relatives describe as government inaction on the case.

Cornelius was arrested in Dubai in 2008 and accused of defrauding the Dubai Islamic Bank over a $500 million loan used to fund a luxury development, The Plantation; he denies the charges. He is held in Al Awir Central Prison, dubbed "Dubai's Alcatraz", sharing a cell the size of a shipping container with six other inmates, despite the United Nations calling for his release over alleged "serious judicial irregularities". His brother-in-law, former Foreign Office official Chris Paggett, says two letters sent to Sir Keir Starmer and correspondence with Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband went unanswered, and accuses the Foreign Office of prioritising relations with the UAE over Cornelius's case.