"It's Patrick, but there’s no life in his eyes, there’s no hope there."

Those are the words of a mother who has not seen her jailed son for almost five years.

The image of Patrick Malluzzo in his Indian prison, visibly thin and with long hair, is the first picture his mother Teresa has seen of her son since he was jailed in what his family claims was a miscarriage of justice.

In July 2006, he was found guilty of smuggling cannabis and sentenced to 10 years of hard labour in an Indian jail.

Patrick has spent almost four-and-a-half-years in the jail in Kota, Rajasthan.

Now his parents are campaigning for his release and are hoping to be granted an appeal date after the Indian courts' summer recess ends next month.

See this week's Dartford Messenger for the full story