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MP asks government to help man in Indian prison
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| Patrick Malluzzo is serving a 10-year jail sentence in India |
AN MP has urged the Government to help a 31-year-old man who believes he is wrongly imprisoned in India.
In July 2006 former Dartford resident Patrick Malluzzo was convicted of smuggling cannabis and jailed for 10 years.
He launched an appeal against the conviction in August 2006, but is still waiting for a court date to be set.
In the House of Commons yesterday (OCTOBER 7), Dartford MP Dr Howard Stoate raised Patrick's case with foreign minister Bill Rammell.
Dr Stoate said: "Mr Malluzzo's family and I, together with Fair Trials International, have a number of serious concerns about the manner in which his trial was conducted and secondly about his treatment while in Jail.
"Mr Malluzzo appealed against his sentence in August 2006 and is still waiting for an appeal date. We are hopeful however that a date will be confirmed very soon.
"In view of these concerns can I ask my right honourable friend to ensure once an appeal date is finally set that there is a British consular presence at his appeal?"
In response Mr Rammell offered to meet Dr Stoate to discuss the case further and promised to consider the MP's request for a Government representative to assist Patrick's appeal.
Patrick was arrested at Mumbai airport in January 2004 while waiting for a flight to Thailand to meet his girlfriend.
This was after Indian police had found a bag containing cannabis and a ticket with his name on it on a train in November 2003.
But Patrick, who was backpacking around India at the time, was not with the bag when police found it and claimed it did not belong to him.
Patrick's 60-year-old mother Teresa says she and her husband Salvatore are struggling to cope while their son is locked up.
She said: "It is like living a half-life as everything is put on hold."
Patrick, who had worked as an investment bank clerk in Britain, had planned to join the Army when he returned to Britain.
Patrick's appeal is backed by the charity Fair Trials International, which provides legal assistance to people who have suffered a miscarriage of justice.
5:15pm Wednesday 8th October 2008
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