THE desperate mother of Nicholas Baker, imprisoned in Japan for drug trafficking, has told the Gazette that her son is now sleeping on a concrete floor, after guards took away his bed.

In a letter received this week, Mr Baker, 32, tells his mother how guards came into the blistering cage he shares with five other prisoners and removed his bed, leaving him with just a thin blanket to rest upon.

"Even if Nick has been found guilty, surely he deserves a bed to sleep on, it's a basic human right," said Mrs Baker.

Mr Baker was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment, as well as a £25,000 fine, after a Japanese court found him guilty of attempting to smuggle 40,000 ecstasy tablets out of the country, 16 months ago.

Mrs Baker, who believes her son is innocent of drug trafficking, but was duped by another traveller, must now find £25,000 to pay off that fine.

In another letter written the same day, her son says: 'I need to be home Mum, where I belong.'

"It's heartbreaking," said Mrs Baker. "Telling Nicholas I could not afford to send him the £25,000 he needs broke my heart. "He feels so hopeless.

"But I am already struggling to send him £100 a month, so he can buy some basic food to keep him going.

"He is given meagre portions of rice and raw fish, which isn't enough to keep him going.

"He is skin and bones," she explained.

"But the money I send him enables him to buy pieces of bread, a little jam and sometimes canned tuna.

"He has had no fresh fruit or vegetables in the 16 months that he has been in prison and routinely finds maggots in his food."

In one of his letters, Nicholas also asks his mother to send him 2,000 yen, around £20, so he can buy a basic padded cushion called a zabuton to rest his aching back. "I don't like to ask," he tells her, before continuing: "I love you mum and I'm innocent, totally...I have been duped mum and that's the truth."

Some of Nicholas' letter, written in mirror writing to fool the Japanese guards who routinely read his letters, plead with his mother to campaign harder for his release.

"He is so frightened that he will be forgotten," said Mrs Baker. "And all this last week, I have woken up every morning, seen the sun and thought how much hotter and more unbearable it must be for my son inside that cage."

Mrs Baker has been writing to Prime Minister Tony Blair every week, in an effort to persuade him to press for Mr Baker to be freed.

She has also started a petition asking Mr Blair to request a fair trial for her son. And she wants the authorities in Japan to admit evidence waiting in Belgium, which she thinks will prove her son was duped into carrying a case containing the drugs for someone else.

"I am determined to keep going until something is done," she said.

"I have set up a new website, appealing for local people and businesses to send their ideas on how I can raise this money.

"I am not begging for the money," she continued.

"I need good ideas for things like concerts. This is a large amount of money, but I am determined to get it.

"Meanwhile, I will continue to use Nicholas' heart-breaking letters to keep me going."

Anyone wishing to contact Mrs Baker can e-mail her at freenickbaker@hotmail.com

Desperate words

THESE extracts are from a letter written by Nicholas Baker to his mother from his prison cell last Wednesday. Some of the words were written backwards to fool his jailers.

'To my dearest, most loved and missed mum, world No1 .My depression and stress gets worse always, as I need to be home mum, and where I belong.

(In mirror writing) 'And get this, the b******s have even taken the beds, just left blankets...

'Mum it's so clear that these b******s have framed me... Being in this hell hole makes me so angry, they all think they can to stop me defending myself, against all their lies But I will be forwarding you more reports, I think you will find them as disgusting and appalling as I do

'I need something comfortable to sit on, and I would like to buy a big cushion that costs 2,000 yen. If you can send me some money I would appreciate it. I would have asked you before but I hope to try and suffer...believe me I don't like to ask, and that's the truth.

'My head's a mess as always. There is so much I want to tell you Usual cr*p breakfast thanks for the bread .sorry, the lights have changed which means it's bedtime even though I cannot sleep much, so wasting time .Goodnight mum I love you, yes here's the lump in the throat....'