Fighting for justice (From Stroud News and Journal)

Fighting for justice

A DESPERATE mother whose son is being held in a Japanese jail has made a heartfelt plea for justice.

Iris Baker's son Nick is being held for a crime he claims he didn't commit.

The 31-year-old from Stroud was arrested last year after carrying a suitcase with more than 41,000 Ecstasy tablets and 30 ounces of cocaine into the country.

One year on and he has lost three stone in weight, is dirty and unshaven and has been put on suicide watch at the prison in Chiba, near Tokyo, where he is currently being held.

Nick claimed he was framed by a "friend and has denied a charge of drug trafficking and is currently awaiting a verdict from his trial, which ended in Japan last week.

After seeing the pitiful state of her son several weeks ago, Mrs Baker is fighting to bring him home.

"It's cold in the prison. His hands were blue every day I saw him," she said.

"He suffers from asthma but they've not given him the proper treatment. I want people to know what happens in Japan. It's barbaric."

Mrs Baker said Nick, who has a two-year-old son and a partner in Stroud, travelled to Japan last April to visit football stadiums ahead of the World Cup.

He was arrested when he arrived at Tokyo's Narita Airport and police found the drugs stash, worth around £1.5 million.

Nick claimed he was left to look after his friend's luggage and when police opened the case they discovered the drugs in a false bottom.

"During a recent visit, I was allowed to visit my son for half-an-hour every weekday but at no time was I able to hug him," said Mrs Baker.

"He has not been allowed to bath or shower for 12 months. "I am a desperate mother who is fighting for justice for her son.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "All aspects of the case are being continually monitored by consulate officials at the British Embassy in Japan."

* Two other former Stroud residents are being held in America on suspicion of smuggling Ecstasy.

Lisa Dean, 22, from Stonehouse and Martyn Cairns, 25, of the Circle, Uplands were arrested at Newark Airport in America on May 11 last year after a random drugs search by US customs.

The drugs haul was discovered under clothes in a suit case.