A man who last week was convicted of importing drugs hidden in decorative candles filed an appeal today, calling for the trial to be annulled.

John Grima, 67, was convicted of importing the drugs from the Netherlands six years ago.

In his appeal, he noted that he had been found guilty by the legal minimum of six jurors to three. The jurors, he said, had based themselves on evidence which was mostly hearsay. There was also insufficient forensic evidence.

Counsel Joe Brincat also argued that his client is seriously ill and in view of his expected shorter life expectancy, the prison term should have been shorter.