Baker cellmate tells of Japanese nightmare (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Baker cellmate tells of Japanese nightmare

A FORMER cell-mate of convicted drug smuggler Nick Baker says he nearly died as a result of his treatment in a tough Japanese prison.

And Chris Snell, who was released just two weeks ago, says he continues to write to Nick as the Cotswold father appeals against his 14 year sentence.

Married father-of-two Mr Snell, aged 50, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in 2002 after he was caught with 3.5 kilos of cannabis in a suitcase at Tokyo Airport.

Like Nick, he says he was framed and tricked into carrying someone else's case through customs.

During the first few weeks of his imprisonment, Mr Snell shared a cell with Nick but says he nearly died after being transferred to another prison.

And he claims it was only due to the intervention of the British Ambassador in Japan and his subsequent transfer back to Wandsworth Prison in London that he survived to tell the tale.

Now recovering at the family home in Liverpool, music producer Mr Snell is writing to his former cell-mate to offer him words of encouragement.

He told the Standard: "When I was over there, Nick was taking it very hard - he was having a very difficult time. They were coming down on him like a ton of bricks.

"I feel unquestionably that, like me, he was simply left holding the bag. "It was dreadful in there. It was very unhygienic and they were very unco-operative with medical provision - very unhelpful.

"One year ago, I thought I was going to die. I was haemorrhaging internally and in extreme pain and they were making me go to work.

"It was only because the British Ambassador spoke to the Japanese Justice Minister himself that anything was done.

"The way they do things out there makes a complete mockery of the justice system."

Mr Snell says he was asked to take a suitcase from Zurich to Tokyo by one of his clients - the brother of the very client he was travelling to see.

As he was in a rush and trusted the man, whom he had worked with regularly, he agreed but was later stopped by customs officials unaware of what he had really been carrying - a large block of compressed cannabis in a hidden compartment.

The situation is almost identical to Nick's, although in the Cotswold father's instance, £1.4 million worth of cocaine and Ecstasy pills were discovered.

Former Cirencester sandwich shop owner Nick has always maintained he was framed by travelling companion James Prunier, who he claims engineered it so they would carry each other's cases through customs.

Prunier committed suicide last year while awaiting trial for drug trafficking offences himself in Belgium but evidence of his case was never presented to the court during Nick's original trial.

A team of campaigners, led by Nick's mother Iris, have been fighting to secure a fair trial for Nick and the appeal process against his sentence began last year.

But Mrs Baker, who lives in Cirencester, also fears for her son's health, branding conditions in the prison where he is being held as 'barbaric'.

She says Nick, who has a young son he has never seen, has been vomiting blood, is suffering from severe back problems, deteriorating eyesight and has a deformed finger caused by frostbite.

She said: "It's obvious that nobody gets a fair trial over there. There will be a tragedy over there - it's just going to get worse.

"We need to get the way they do things changed. I'm sure Chris will jump in with us now and get something going."

The next appeal hearing will take place on April 19.

Anyone interested in writing to Nick should send letters to Nick Baker, Tokyo Detention Centre, 1-35-1a Kosuge, Katsushika-Ku, Tokyo, 124-0001, Japan.