IRIS Baker, whose son Nick is imprisoned in Japan for drug smuggling, has called the first day of his appeal, a sickening farce.

Mrs Baker, 54, told of her devastation after Tuesday's hearing in Tokyo ran out of time before her son's defence document could be read in its entirety.

Nick's Japanese translator read 14 pages of a 33-page document before she was stopped. To make matters worse, the next session of the appeal will not be until May 11, because that is the earliest date Nick's Japanese translator can fit in.

"I just feel like sitting in a corner and crying," said Mrs Baker, from her home in Oaksey, near Malmesbury.

"Nick has been in Chiba Detention Centre in Tokyo for two years already, now it will be another two months before the next stage of his appeal."

Mrs Baker said she has been on stand-by, waiting to fly-out for the next stage of the appeal, as soon as possible.

But even though the court suggested a date in April, that date was rejected by his own translator because she was too busy.

"This is barbaric," she said.

"My son was not only led into the seventh-floor court room tied to his guards, but he had to sit and strain to listen to this translator garble his

defence document. My son's lawyers said no-one could hear what she was saying."

Mrs Baker has campaigned relentlessly for her son's release, but said she remains painfully aware of the odds stacked against him.

"The biggest of our obstacles is that the Japanese system throws out 99.9 per cent of its appeals," she said.

Nick Baker was arrested at Narita International Airport in April 2002, after being found to have 41,120 ecstasy tablets and 990 grams of cocaine in his luggage.

In June 2003, he was sentenced to 14 year's jail and a £27,000 fine, with a further 500 days hard labour if he could not afford to pay. But he has claimed throughout his ordeal the suitcase containing the drugs belonged to a travelling companion who fled the airport when he saw Mr Baker arrested.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was later arrested in Belgium where he is now facing trial for similar offences.

This evidence will form an important part of his appeal.