Over 3,500 people have signed an online petition calling for a reduction in the 10-and-a-half-year jail term being served by Daniel Holmes, a British expat found guilty of cultivating cannabis plants at his home.

In November 2011, Mr Holmes, then 34, was imprisoned and fined €23,000 after police discovered the drugs at Mr Holmes’s home in Għajnsielem.

The petition follows an interview in The Sunday Times of Malta earlier this month, where Mr Holmes’s father Mel revealed that letters of clemency to President George Abela and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had been to no avail.

No date has yet been set for Daniel Holmes’s appeal, 16 months into his sentence.

Mel Holmes flies to Malta from his native Wales as often as he can to visit his son. Visits from his mother, Kathryn, are more limited as a medical condition prevents her from travelling.

There used to be twice-weekly visits from his Polish wife Marzena and toddler daughter Rainbow. But with no friends, family or social welfare support to help them get by, his loved ones relocated to Wales.

A series of public appeals followed his sentencing, including two protest marches in 2011 and 2012.

The demonstrations calling for an end to cannabis prohibition laws were organised by David Caruana, who is himself facing charges of cultivating two cannabis plants.

Daniel Holmes, through his lawyer Kenneth Grima, has filed an appeal against the sentence, drawing comparisons with lower sentences handed down in the past two years for rape and murder.

The defence also argued the sentence had been incorrectly based on the weight of the entire plant. Dr Grima pointed out that, had the stems and roots not been included, the amount of the drug would have been reduced to that normally deemed to be for personal use.

Mr Holmes also argues the plants had belonged to his roommate, Barry Lee, who faced the same charges but committed suicide while awaiting trial in prison.

Although the Government and Opposition have in the past agreed on the need to address drug laws, they have both argued against decriminalisation.