Ex-firefighter Garry Mann pictured with partner Suzanne Lloyd-Baker.

by Gerry Warren

Former Faversham fireman Garry Mann will remain behind bars in Portugal this Christmas after his appeal for a state pardon was rejected.

The news has left his family bitterly disappointed but they are now clinging to hope that his application to serve the remainder of his sentence in the UK will be approved.

Mann, 52, of Gordon Square, was arrested in the Algarve and convicted of being involved in a football riot in 2004 for which he received a two-year jail sentence.

He returned home to England but was extradited back to Portugal in May to serve his sentence after a lengthy legal battle against a European arrest warrant.

He always strenuously denied the charge and claims he was convicted by a ‘kangaroo’ court with no proper representation.

Despite the support of Fair Trials International, an English police officer who branded his trial in Portugal ‘a farce’ and a Court of Appeal judge agreeing that he had been the victim of a ‘serious injustice’, Mann has now spent seven months behind bars in Lisbon.

Speaking from their Faversham home, his partner Suzanne Lloyd-Baker said: "The day he had to leave was very emotional for all of us. But he took himself to the airport because he knew the authorities would come and get him if he didn’t.

"To be honest his sentence started a year before he had to go back because of the stress of trying to fight the arrest warrant. We had hoped he would get a pardon but somebody blocked his application from going before the president.

"But now we are in the final stages of the application process for him to return to the UK to serve his sentence which we hope could happen early next year."

Ms Lloyd-Baker, 41, a mental health nurse, said that she and their six daughters, Scarlet, 16, Hannah, 16, Rebecca, 18, Charlie, 19, Katie, 22 and Emma, 24 faced a miserable Christmas apart from Garry.

She said: "It’s going to be hard for all of us – we’re really not looking forward to it. But I speak to Garry a couple of times a week on the phone and try and keep his spirits up because not surprisingly he gets down sometimes.

"He has his own cell and a television though only a handful of other inmates speak English. But he has a determined character and does have an inner strength to see him through it."

She said she had twice flown to Portugal to visit him in jail – the first time shortly after he was imprisoned and then in October with daughters, Scarlet and Hannah. She is planning to go again on December 13 with his two brothers.

"We still all feel very bitter about the process which led to Garry being convicted of something he didn’t do and the failure of the English courts to reject the European arrest warrant because of his flawed trial," she said. "He is only supposed to serve half his sentence in Portugal which means he should be released next May but we have heard that is not always the cases.

"Now we have got our fingers crossed the final stage of his application to return to the UK will be approved."

But Ms Lloyd-Baker said the couple still faced a difficult future when he comes out of jail because of the conviction which may be recorded in CRB checks and make it difficult for him to find employment.