THE mother of a Kidderminster gambler jailed in America for murdering his wife says it would “mean everything” to his family if an application to serve the rest of his sentence in England was successful.

Officials in the USA said Marcus Bebb-Jones, 50, who was sentenced to 20 years in a Colorado prison last May after pleading guilty to the 1997 second-degree murder of his wife, Sabrina, had applied to be transferred to the UK.

His mother, Pamela Weaver, 70, who lives in Merton Close, Kidderminster, with Bebb-Jones' and Sabrina’s 19-year-old son, Daniel, said she had been unable to visit her son since March 2011 because of the cost of flights and hotels.

“To me and the family it would be wonderful if the application was successful,” she told The Shuttle. “We would be able to go and visit him and it would cost much less money. Just to have him home, I cannot describe it, it would mean everything."

“I have no idea if it will be successful, I cannot see why they would want to keep him there other than just being malicious.”

Bebb-Jones and his wife owned a hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado, at the time of her disappearance in 1997.

Her skull was found seven years later and Bebb-Jones told authorities he left her body after striking and killing her.

Her body was never found and a cause of death never determined.

Colorado allows foreign nationals from certain countries, including the UK, to apply to serve sentences in their home nations. Applications are determined by the state’s Department of Corrections or governor and require approval from the US Department of Justice and the other country involved.

Roger Hudson, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Corrections, said he did not know the status of Bebb-Jones’ application or when a decision would be made.

The 20-year sentence, the most Bebb-Jones could receive as part of a plea deal, means eligibility for parole in ten years according to Colorado law, but Bebb-Jones would be able to make his case sooner thanks to credit for three-and -a-half years spent in custody before sentencing.