A Briton who is currently serving a 10-year jail term for cultivating cannabis has instituted a constitutional case, arguing that 18 months he spent under preventative arrest in a case from which he was acquitted should be deducted from his current term.

Daniel Holmes was arrested in December 2007 and accused of stealing a car, and a dinghy, causing slight injury and causing voluntary damage.

He was held behind bars for 18 months but then found not guilty.

His lawyers Franco Debono and Michela Spiteri argued in court this morning that the time spent in remand should be deducted from the prison term of 10-and-a-half years which Mr Holmes is currently serving in a separate case.

They also pleaded that Mr Holmes did not have access to a lawyer during the interrogation in his first case.

Holmes asked the court to declare that his human rights had been breached and to provide a remedy.