Daniel Holmes, the Briton jailed for 10 years for growing cannabis plants, has shown up again in the British press, saying he fears his sentence may be extended because he cannot pay the court costs of his appeal.
He told the Daily Mirror that he is facing an extra four years on his sentence, because he cannot pay court costs and fines.
Daniel Holmes was convicted in 2011 of growing five cannabis plants in his home in Gozo, the newspaper reported.
Campaigners have been fighting for the 35-year-old from Newport, South Wales, to be freed, but say that persuading the authorities to deduct the time he’s already served from his sentence is proving difficult.
He told another newspaper, Wales On Sunday : “When I finished the appeal they told me they could not give the year I had already served back.
“They told me I would have to ask the prison authorities who told me to ask the courts.”
Mr Holmes was 28 when he was arrested in June 2006 at his flat in Gozo. There he was growing the cannabis plants he has always maintained were for his own personal use.
He was bailed after 11 days but in December 2007 he was caught in a stolen car – though he was later acquitted of the charge.
He spent a year in Corradino prison before he was freed on bail.
“It’s a long struggle,” Mr Holmes said. “Without that year I’ve done two years and a couple of months and with it I have done three years and a couple of months.
“I was given ten-and-a-half but now there is this year which makes it 11-and-a-half. Then there is the fine which is €23,000.
“If I don’t pay that they could give me another year which makes it 12-and-a-half.
“Then there are court costs of €4,000. That goes up by €11 a day which could mean another year.”
By the time he is released he could have spent 14-and-a-half years in jail.
Though time off for good behaviour could bring his sentence down to the ten-and-a-half years he was originally given.
Sentencing guidelines for cultivating up to nine cannabis plants for personal use in the UK range from a fine to a three-year community order, the Mirror said.
CHRISTMAS WITH OTHER BRITISH INMATES
Daniel’s appeal against his sentence was rejected in October. And now the keen scuba diver will be spending Christmas day celebrating with other British inmates.
He is trying to convince them to get together for a game of Ludo and they might watch DVDs of Ronnie Barker’s prison sitcom Porridge.
He will eat a Christmas pudding his wife Marzena has taken him and says Christmas dinner will “be either fish or meat of some sort.”
Last year he had fish.
“I don’t know what fish it was,” the ex-chef said. “No-one knew what it was.”
But the most difficult thing will be spending time away from his family.
“It would be lovely to see my daughter, Rainbow, enjoying Christmas,” Daniel said.
“It’s going to be very hard. They have got everything they need apart from me. It’s a big weight in my mind.”
Rainbow and Marzena recently spent six days visiting Holmes in Malta.
“Rainbow wondered why I was not going with her,” Daniel said.
For Christmas, parents Mel and Kate sent Daniel some money via the British Foreign Office.
“It was supposed to be €50. It took 30 days to arrive and when it did the Foreign Office sent €25 too much.
“Then they sent 30 e-mails to the prison asking for it back. And I had to give it back.”
The Foreign Office said they could not comment because of confidentiality, the Mirror said.
APPEAL COURT JUDGMENT
The Malta Appeals Court in October confirmed the first court's judgement of 10 years and six months imprisonment saying Mr Holmes had actually been found in possession of 32 plants. He had also had an extra bag containing 600 grams of cannabis leaves. It was those leaves which were taken into consideration, not the stalks as Mr Holmes had claimed. This was more than just small production for personal use. There were 32 plants besides the tried cannabis leaves and a number of sachets.
The court expert had testified that 5,000 joints could have been made from the leaves that were found in the bag. Furthermore, this was a continuous offence, which had continued for five months and was premeditated.
The court said the punishment was well within the parameters of the law. While the maximum was life imprisonment, the first court had applied an article of the law which brought that to a minimum of four years and a maximum of 30.
Regarding the suffering by the Holmes family, the judges said that the court could not take such suffering into consideration and a person should have thought of such suffering before committing the crime.