Malmesbury man Nick Baker suffered yet another blow this week when his appeal against his Japanese jail sentence was delayed for the third time.

Mr Baker is two years in to a 14-year jail sentence for drug smuggling, a charge which he vehemently denies and has been appealing against for the last year.

He had a second appeal hearing on Thursday, but after just one and a half hours the judge decided to adjourn the case until July 20.

Mr Baker's mum Iris said: "We are still just in limbo, not knowing if a decision will ever be made.

"There are days when I could just sit with my head in my hands.

"It is so hard to keep going and stay optimistic. It's so draining and I am constantly exhausted from it all."

Mr Baker's appeal was held in the Tokyo High Court, and his lawyer argued that there were serious flaws in the case against him, and he was made to sign a confession which was written in Japanese, a language he does not understand.

Mr Baker has always maintained his innocence, and says he was duped into carrying the suitcase containing 41,120 ecstasy tablets through Toyko's Narita Airport by his travelling companion 'Mr A'.

Mr A was later arrested in Belgium for tricking other travellers into becoming drugs 'mules', but the Japanese court was never told that during Mr Baker's trial.

Mrs Baker said: "The whole Japanese legal system is a joke."

If Mr Baker's appeal fails he will have to pay a £27,000 fine on top of his sentence, if he cannot raise the money within two weeks he will have to do 500 hours hard labour.

After spending a year on remand before his trial, Mr Baker was moved to the notorious Tokyo Prison where he is kept in solitary confinement 24 hours a day.

He has sustained severe frostbite which has left his fingers deformed, his eyesight is blurred and he has constant back and joint pain from being forced to sit cross legged on a concrete floor.

In order to help raise this money and pay for Mr Baker's legal costs, friend Nic Holmes ran the Blackpool marathon this weekend.

Mr Holmes lives in Japan where he works as a university lecturer and has been visiting Mr Baker every week for a month.

Mrs Baker said: "It is a wonderful thing he has done. If I hadn't had the marathon to focus on I think I would have lost it with the disappointment of the appeal.

"He is only allowed to see my Nick for 10 minutes a week, but that is ten minutes when Nick is allowed out of his cage and has contact with another person.

"It gives him a reason to smile."

Mr Holmes' marathon run raised £1,500 for Mr Baker.

If Gazette readers wish to add to the fund they can contact Mrs Baker at irisbaker54@hotmail.com.