PM asked for help in Nick Baker case (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

PM asked for help in Nick Baker case

PRIME Minister Tony Blair has been asked to intervene in the campaign to secure a fair trial for accused drug smuggler Nick Baker.

And MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford, who visited the Cotswold father in a tough Japanese prison this week, says not even the possibility of a diplomatic dispute between the two countries should stand in the premier's way.

Nick, 32, who claims he was framed by a travelling companion, has been languishing in Tokyo's Chiba Prison since his arrest last April.

As revealed in last week's Standard, Nick wrote a letter to Standard Chief Reporter Paul Bull, complaining of mental abuse and horrific conditions, which he says have left him with a bent spine and deformed finger.

Crucial evidence, which indicates the "friend" has tried similar scams around the world, has so far been ignored by the Japanese authorities.

And Baroness Ludford, who travelled to Tokyo with Sabine Zanker of the international Fair Trials Abroad charity, is determined that Nick should receive a balanced hearing.

Prior to the trip, she said: "Tony Blair had this very moral mission to liberate the people of Iraq. I'd like him to have the same sort of moral mission to liberate a Briton from this.

"I don't want a rift between the two countries but what I would find very galling is for life to just carry on as normal.

"I can't believe a court in a civilised democracy like Japan can allow a miscarriage of justice to happen."

Nick, who used to run a sandwich shop in Cirencester, was arrested and charged with drug trafficking after he was stopped carrying a suitcase with £1.5 million worth of drugs at Tokyo Airport.

He claims his "friend" engineered it so that they would carry each other's cases through customs and Nick didn't realise what was in his companion's luggage.

The other man was later arrested and charged himself for similar offences in Belgium. He is also believed to have duped other young people around the world.

The British Foreign Office has contacted Japan, demanding it look at the case again and the Belgian authorities have offered to release their own evidence.

In the meantime, Nick, who has a partner and son in Stroud, is due to be sentenced next month.

His mother Iris, who lives near Cirencester, has been tirelessly campaigning to clear her son's name.

* A copy of last week's Standard was sent to Baroness Ludford in the hope she could get it into Chiba for Nick.

At the time of going to press we were unable to contact the MEP in Tokyo but a major international press conference was due to be staged in the city highlighting Nick's case.