ACCUSED drug smuggler Nick Baker has been jailed for 14 years in Japan.

The 32-year-old was also fined £25,600 after being arrested at Tokyo airport in April last year with more than 40,000 ecstasy tablets and almost a kilo of cocaine in a suitcase he was carrying.

Campaigners, who claim the Japanese authorities have ignored vital evidence, which may prove his innocence, have vowed to appeal against the sentence.

Nick, who used to run a sandwich shop in Cirencester, has always maintained he was framed by a travelling companion, who engineered it so they would carry each other's suitcases through customs.

Nick's mother Iris, who lives near Cirencester, says she fears for her son's physical and mental well-being, and has been campaigning relentlessly to clear his name.

Stephen Jakobi of the international Fair Trials Abroad charity, which has been working with MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford to try and secure the Cotswold father a fair trial, said: "The sentence was really expected but an appeal will be lodged.

"The real dispute was that the court refused to get evidence from Belgium which is felt may have cleared Nick Baker and that is why we feel the trial was unfair.

"This was defence evidence that was available but was not allowed."

Nick's case, which was originally highlighted in the Standard, has attracted enormous support from the local Japanese district law society and one of the major national newspapers in Japan, the Yomiuri.

The "friend" who Nick claims framed him was later arrested and charged with drug trafficking in Belgium.

Those campaigning on Nick's behalf says there is also evidence the man has tried similar scams around the world.

But, despite appealing for the Japanese authorities to re-open the case, Nick, who has a partner and son in Stroud, was sentenced without the information ever being considered.

In an emotional letter to Standard Chief Reporter Paul Bull last month, Nick claimed conditions at the tough Chiba Prison where he is being held, had left him with a deformed finger and bent spine.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International said it would look into the reports.