Appeal lodged after brothers spend six years in Portuguese jail (From Western Telegraph)

Appeal lodged after brothers spend six years in Portuguese jail

TWO MILFORD Haven brothers are trying to put their lives back together after six years in Portuguese jails.

Andrew and Graham Stow were arrested in 1999 for trying to smuggle more than a tonne of cannabis into Faro harbour.

But Andrew, aged 39 and Graham, 44, say they found the packages, worth £3 million, on the seabed while carrying out repairs on their 22-metre trawler Baltic.

Despite maintaining their innocence, they were convicted and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment.

Their father Dilwyn Stow, of Milford Haven, has travelled to Portugal 15 times and spent six years and his life savings trying to free his sons.

Mr Stow, now in his late 70s, was backed by MEP Glenys Kinnock who described their situation as a 'total travesty of justice'.

Andrew and Graham were released to a British prison nine months ago before finally returning home to Pembrokeshire.

But the fight is not over. An appeal has been lodged with the European Court of Human Rights to overturn their conviction on the basis that interpreters were not provided by the court, as stipulated in the European Convention on Human Rights, and the men did not understand what was said.

Expert evidence supporting the brothers' innocence appeared to be ignored at both the original trial in 2001 and the retrial in 2002.

Two judges sat on both proceedings, raising questions over the impartiality of the retrial.