THE father of a backpacker he claims has been wrongly jailed in India says he expects his son will finally receive an appeal hearing.

Former Dartford resident Patrick Malluzzo, 32, has so far served five years of a 10-year jail sentence for smuggling cannabis.

After a three-year wait since his conviction in 2006, Patrick’s father Salvatore says they expect to be given a date for an appeal hearing in the next few weeks.

The 63-year-old, of Upper Heath Lane, Dartford, said: “I just got back from visiting Patrick at the prison in India.

“Physically he is not too bad, but the water and food is not good enough.”

Two years ago, Salvatore and his wife Teresa were forced to sell their house to pay for Indian legal fees, travel costs, phone calls and postage.

The couple turned to charity Fair Trials International to get help with an appeal, who wrote to Foreign Secretary at the time Margaret Beckett, calling on her to intervene.

Mr Malluzzo, who suffers from diabetes and a high blood pressure, said: “Patrick did not commit the crime, so it is even harder for him to be in prison, but he knows we are fighting with everything we have to get him free.

“He is hoping and we are hoping that he will get an appeal hearing, but that hope could be shattered in a few weeks, as we may not get the hearing.

“We are hoping it goes to appeal and they decide to release him.”

The post office worker added: “I feel the strain of fighting to get him free.

“All the facts show he is innocent.”

Patrick was travelling around India in November 2003 when police found drugs in a bag next to his.

The bag also contained a ticket bearing his name, which he claims must have been booked by his friend.

He was arrested in January 2004 while waiting at Mumbai airport to catch a flight to Thailand to meet his girlfriend.

Former investment bank administrator Patrick, who planned to join the Army when he returned to Britain, claimed that while in prison waiting two years for his trial, he was tortured by being burned with cigarettes and beaten with bamboo sticks.

His mother told News Shopper last year that Patrick had become much thinner and was being fed sludge for food.

Outgoing Dartford MP Dr Howard Stoate previously raised the issue of Patrick’s imprisonment in the House of Commons, asking that there is a British consular presence at any appeal.

An online petition at website ipetitions.com/petition/PATRICKMALLUZZO/ has been set up calling for Patrick’s release, as has a social networking group with almost 600 members.

Chief executive of Fair Trials International Jago Russell said: "Patrick Malluzzo has been held in detention for more than five years for a crime that he did not commit and was convicted on questionable evidence and in proceedings that breached international fair trial standards.

"Given the extraordinary delays in his case and the abject conditions in which he is being detained, Patrick’s appeal must be heard as a matter of urgency.

"FTI will continue to work closely with the Malluzzo family and their lawyers, as well as making representations to the relevant political and judicial authorities both in the UK and in India, to ensure that Patrick finally receives the justice he is entitled to.”