Steve Marsden, the 50-year-old Briton jailed for 25 years for conspiring to traffic in 50,000 ecstasy pills, walked out of prison a free man yesterday after he was acquitted by an appeals court.

Admitting he had been “morally wrong” in what he did, he said it still did not justify the time he spent behind bars, much of it in preventive custody.

“I feel like my legs are going to give way. I’m absolutely elated after three and a half years of hell,” he said, standing outside the prison dressed in a black suit and holding his belongings in two bags.

“Now it’s time to start picking up the pieces.”

Last January, Mr Marsden was found guilty of conspiring to import ecstasy even though the pills that he had brought into Malta contained a chemical similar to that found in ecstasy but which was legal at the time.

During the trial Mr Marsden maintained that he knew the pills he was transporting were not illegal but the prosecution argued that this was untrue since he did not disclose this information during the police investigation and he had also tried to hide the pills.

The appeal court, made up of Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano, Mr Justice David Scicluna and Mr Justice Joseph Micallef, yesterday found that there was not enough evidence to prove that Mr Marsden formed part of a conspiracy to import illegal drugs.

They overturned the sentence which had been to import drugs and overturned the sentence handed down by Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono after the trial by jury.

The prosecution could not prove that at least one of his co-conspirators had illegal drugs in mind and neither could it prove that Mr Marsden thought the pills were illegal.

“I had done my homework and that was proven today. I had checked on the internet from the best source. I always knew they weren’t illegal. I’ve never even experimented with any illegal substances, which makes it even harder to swallow. You play with fire, you get your fingers burnt,” Mr Marsden told The Times.

In 2006 he drove from Spain to Malta with the pills – which contained the chemical mCPP – hidden behind the panels of his Mitsubishi Pajero. He was stopped by the police as he was driving off the Catamaran from Sicily on July 9 after they were tipped off that he would be arriving.

Mr Marsden, who is actually a transporter by profession, insisted that he never intended to sell the pills himself and he was simply transporting them for businessmen registered in Malta.

“Morally I was wrong. I feel bad about that. And it’s not something that will be repeated. It was a grave error of judgment on my part which I very much regret. But I don’t think it justifies three and a half years in prison. I served a five-year sentence for not breaking the law,” he said.

Mr Marsden will fly back to the UK today never, he said, to return to Malta. With tears in his eyes, he said his lawyers would immediately start a civil case against Malta for compensation and lost time.

“I have lost friends who I will never see again,” he said, adding that one of his best friends died of cancer while he was in prison.

Mr Marsden will see his three-year-old granddaughter for the first time today and his first job will be baby-sitting because his daughter has just been diagnosed with Swine Flu.

“But the first thing I will do is have a long gin and tonic,” he said.

As he tasted freedom outside the Corradino Correctional Facility, he said the feeling was strange, daunting and unbelievable.

Just 10 months ago he was facing 25 years in prison and a fine of €60,000 which was to be turned into another 18 months, after a jury found him guilty by eight votes to one.

“I always had faith that I would be released. I believed in my lawyer and in my innocence,” he said.

Mr Marsden’s case had made it to the BBC because Fair Trials International claimed that he was being held for too long before his case was heard.

Talking about the driving habits in Malta, the buses and the slow legal system, Mr Marsden said Malta was in a “time warp”.

He was going to pick up Lm5,000 for the transportation of the pills and had a clean conduct. He had given the names of the two persons who had incited him to do the run together with details about their other business interests, he said.

He had done the job “out of stupidity” and for financial reasons.

However, the prosecution had maintained that the pills would have had a market price of close to €500,000 and would have had an enormous impact on youth and society.

His lawyer Joe Brincat yesterday said that the case raised a number of human rights issues that he intended to pursue. He said that Mr Marsden should not have been kept behind bars for so long before the trial.

Mr Marsden was kept in long preventative detention because he could not afford to pay his bail.

“There is something amiss with our system,” Dr Brincat said.