The Englishman found with 50,000 pills hidden inside the panels of his jeep yesterday claimed that he had concealed the drugs only so that they would not be stolen in Sicily.

The drug was not illegal in Malta at the time, Steven John Lewis Marsden, 45, maintained at the start of his trial by jury. He insisted that he had been detained illegally and also that this was the first time he had been allowed to speak in court during proceedings against him.

He said he had hidden the drug because travelling from Spain he would have to pass through southern Italy. "You would not leave your car there overnight unattended, even behind a fence. It is not safe."

He had done his homework about transporting the drug so as not to be caught doing anything illegal.

The pills were largely made up of a chemical called MCPP which at the time was legal as it had not yet been scheduled in Maltese law, he said.

His claim was backed up by the testimony of court expert pharmacist Mario Mifsud.

Mr Marsden had originally been charged with importing 28 packets containing a total of 50,000 ecstasy pills embossed with the Lacoste crocodile logo, and with trafficking in the drug in 2006.

These two charges were then dropped after evidence produced during the compilation of evidence showed that the pills did not contain the chemical found in ecstasy, as listed in Maltese drug laws, but contained another unscheduled drug.

In light of this, the Attorney General issued a bill of indictment that instead charged Mr Marsden with conspiring to deal in ecstasy.

While awaiting trial Mr Marsden filed an appeal saying that the drugs which he imported were not illegal at the time so "the charge as it stands is an invention of the Attorney General in his unfettered right to charge as he deems fit". He insisted it was not real ecstasy that he was importing but a fake version.

The court of Criminal Appeal presided over by Mr Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano, Mr Justice David Scicluna and Mr Justice Joseph Micallef ruled, however, that "a person may be found guilty of, say, conspiracy to import heroin into Malta, even though the stuff that he eventually brings into Malta turned out to be baking powder. It all depends on what was actually agreed upon between the conspirators and more specifically on the object of the conspiracy".

The court said that it was not up to it to decide whether it was "real" ecstasy or "fake" ecstasy, adding that the Attorney General is clearly of the opinion that it was "real" and Mr Marsden disagreed. But it was up to a jury to decide.

It added that unfortunately a lot of time had been wasted "because of what can only be described as manifestly unfounded pleas by the accused and an equally manifestly unfounded appeal".

The case was sent back and the trial started yesterday, during which Police Inspector Norbert Ciappara testified that Mr Marsden arrived in Malta, from Pozzallo in Sicily, aboard a catamaran on the night of July 9, 2006.

Approached by a Customs official, Mr Marsden said he did not have anything to declare but a couple of crates of champagne.

Mr Marsden was meant to be travelling with a certain Engelbert Debono but Mr Debono was arrested at passport control after the two became separated, Inspector Ciappara said.

Mr Marsden had no objection to letting the vehicle be searched and the police took it to the forensic garage where nothing was initially found. When questioned whether he was carrying drugs he denied it.

The search carried on into the early hours of the morning and at around 7 a.m. the car was put through an X-ray machine at the Freeport. Following the 10-hour search, the police found more than 14 kilos of pills hidden between panels of the Pajero.

Inspector Ciappara said that the car had been converted into a commercial vehicle with the back seats taken out and replaced with plywood panelling.

In the subsequent statement to the police, Mr Marsden said he had been living in Malta since 2005 and had been divorced for 20 years. He had a transport business here and had bought the car from a man in Bracknell in England. He knew Mr Debono and asked him for help in his business.

He admitted that the drugs were his and said they had been given to him by another man in Alicante, whose name he did not wish to disclose at that time.

Stupidity, financial problems and pressure from third parties had led him to make the drug run, he told the police.

Taking the witness stand yesterday, Dr Mifsud said that ecstasy pills were usually embossed with different logos and Disney characters, but this was the first time he had seen the Lacoste crocodile.

He said MCPP was the main component of the pills. Research had shown that it was a non-habit forming drug and not harmful. It had similar effects to MDMA which is also ecstasy; to decrease depression after the use of MDMA users would take MCPP. The street value of ecstasy (MDMA) at the time was between Lm5 and Lm7 but it would cost no more than Lm0.25c to produce, Dr Mifsud added.

If someone was to sell MCPP as MDMA it would be the same price. However, MCPP was also called ecstasy so in effect it had the same name but was different, Dr Mifsud said.

He added that ecstasy can be made up of different constituents. MCPP was a chemical that was not controlled by law at the time but the law had since been changed.

When asked by a juror whether it could still be defined as a dangerous drug, Dr Mifsud said it could.

Mr Marsden yesterday told the court that he had been offered to act as a courier for the drug four or five weeks before he had been arrested and had been approached by two men, namely Kenneth Donaldson and Andrew Woodhouse.

(Andrew Woodhouse had also been named by Mark Stephens as the person who gave Mr Stephens the drugs he imported from Spain in 2003. Mr Stephens was subsequently found guilty and jailed for 25 years.)

When asked by the prosecution why he had hidden the drugs in the panels of the car, Mr Marsden said that he was going to pass through southern Italy which was very dangerous and so wanted to hide them to avoid them getting stolen.

He still believed he did not break any law. "I had no intention of breaking any law and I believe that I have been illegally detained here."

He added that there had never been any recorded overdoses of people using the drug.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono asked Mr Marsden why, if he believed that the drugs were legal, he had let officers work for 10 hours to dismantle the car to find the pills.

The accused replied that he hoped the pills would never be found because even if they were legal they would be confiscated.

He said he was to be paid Lm5,000 for the job and that Mr Donaldson and Mr Woodhouse had paid €40,000 for the consignment. When pressed by the prosecution to explain why he did not tell police that the pills were legal he said: "It was blatantly obvious that they were not interested".

He said that he told his legal counsel of the time about it but nothing was done. "My lawyer at the time, Leslie Cuschcieri, went to speak to Mr Donaldson and Mr Woodhouse about the MCPP," he said, adding that it was the first time he had ever been allowed to speak in two and a half years.

Head of the Prosecution Unit Anthony Barbara assisted by Nadine Sant and Jason Grima prosecuted.

Lawyer Joe Brincat appeared for Mr Marsden.