Decision day for drug smuggler (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Decision day for drug smuggler

THE fate of convicted drug smuggler Nick Baker could be determined this week.

The former Cirencester sandwich shop owner, who was sentenced to 14 years in a tough Japanese prison, was due to have his final appeal hearing at the time of going to press (Wednesday, July 20).

And, although a verdict isn't due until September, evidence given in court today will determine what lies ahead.

The 34-year-old's mother Iris flew to Japan at the weekend and fears her son is wasting away.

Speaking from Tokyo just hours before today's hearing, Mrs Baker, who lives in Cirencester, said: "Seeing him in prison this week makes me even more determined to try and get him out.

"He used to be quite a big guy but he's lost a lot more weight since I last saw him and his face and shoulders are quite thin.

"He doesn't like the food and doesn't eat it. I think it's the fear of what's happening."

Nick, who has a young son, was jailed and fined £25,000 after being caught carrying a suitcase containing £1.4 million worth of drugs through Tokyo's Narita Airport three years ago.

He has always protested his innocence and claims he was framed by travelling companion James Prunier, who he says engineered it so they would carry each other's luggage through customs.

Prunier himself was later charged with drug trafficking in Belgium but the evidence was never considered during Nick's original trial.

The case took another turn last year when Prunier - who denied framing Nick - was found dead on railway tracks near Gloucester.

But Nick's lawyers have uncovered further evidence they hope will clear their client and campaigners, including MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford and the international Fair Trials Abroad charity, have also thrown their weight behind the case.

Meanwhile, Nick continues to languish in solitary confinement and Mrs Baker says he has developed a number of health problems as a result of what she calls 'barbaric' treatment at the hands of the Japanese authorities.

Mrs Baker, who has been filmed this week as part of a documentary of Nick's case, said: "The young Japanese lads doing the filming are shocked that this sort of thing is going on in their country. Most people in Japan don't know what happens in their prisons.

"I took Nick a lightweight shirt in this week and sprayed it with some perfume to make it smell nice but they wouldn't let him have it. They said I had to take it back and wash it first.

"We chatted a lot about the hearing and he's being realistic. I didn't want him to think of the worse case scenario."