Leeson's father also has cancer

THE FATHER of cancer-stricken Nick Leeson - the rogue trader jailed in Singapore for causing the collapse of Barings Bank - has revealed that he is also suffering from the disease.

William Leeson, 58, says he is too ill to go to see his son and wants the authorities in Singapore to allow him to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in Britain.

It is the third time that cancer has struck the family. Mr Leeson, who lives in Watford, was last year diagnosed with the same type of blood cancer that killed his wife, Anne, in 1987.

Mr Leeson had tried to stop his jailed son finding out that he was ill but his other son Richard, 29, told him during a visit to Changi Prison in Singapore at Christmas. Mr Leeson senior was told of his son's illness last Wednesday. "I couldn't believe it," he was reported as saying yesterday. "Now it is slowly sinking in ...Nick has got to fight and Nick will fight. He is a lot like his dad and mother in that respect. He will fight it. But it would make life so much easier for us if he was in prison over here."

Nick Leeson, 31, was jailed for six and a half years in 1995 after bringing down Barings Bank with his illegal dealing which caused losses of pounds 860m. He was diagnosed as having colon cancer last week and has been moved out of prison to a secure hospital ward.

His lawyer has made an application for him to be allowed to return to Britain on medical and compassionate grounds.