The Australian foreign minister said yesterday the government was angry that the brother of an Australian nurse killed in Saudi Arabia had not yet received £777,000 compensation from two British nurses convicted of the murder.
"We are very angry that the money has not been released despite the fact that the two British nurses have gone back to Britain," Foreign Minister Mr Alexander Downer told Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) radio.
Mr Downer said he had asked the British government to try to persuade the two nurses, Ms Deborah Parry (39) and Ms Lucille McLauchlan (32), to release the money promised to Yvonne Gilford's brother, Frank.
"I do think Frank Gilford has been very harshly treated," Mr Downer told Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) radio. "We are doing what we can to help him."