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A Welsh dad jailed for 10-and-a-half years on Malta after he was caught growing five cannabis plants has vowed: “I will get off this island.”

Speaking from behind bars, Daniel Holmes said the thought of being reunited with his wife and daughter in Wales gave him strength.

Daniel, 35, is 22 months into his decade-long sentence at Corradino Correctional Facility (CCF) near the Maltese capital, Valetta.

His family in Wales this week told of their desperate hope that appeal court judges will next month cut short his prison term.

Wife Marzena, 26, lives in Cardiff with their two-year-old daughter, Rainbow, who was born three months before Daniel was locked up in November 2011.

If he is forced to serve his full sentence, Daniel estimates he may not be released until 2019.

His nightmare started in June 2006 when he was caught growing cannabis plants in a flat he shared with a fellow Brit, Barry Lee, on Gozo.

Barry, a 44-year-old from Bolton, was found hanged in prison in 2010.

The following year, and after 65 court appearances, Daniel pleaded guilty on legal advice that he might receive a lesser sentence.

Despite the prosecution only asking for eight years, the judge stunned Daniel – who said the drug was for personal use only – with a 10-and-a-half-year jail term and a 23,000 (£19,000) fine.

“After all this time, especially with what happened to Barry, I always think ‘Whatever happens I will walk out of here one day for both of us’,” Daniel told WalesOnline in a telephone interview on Friday.

“I will leave the island. I will walk away from it. I won’t let it beat me. They can take a huge chunk of my life, but they won’t take it all.

“They won’t take who I am as a person and, if anything, I’ll use this time to become a stronger person and a better person – and never come back to Malta again.”

Stranded in a foreign country, with a three-month-old baby and no income, Marzena stood by her husband, getting a job and visiting Daniel three times a week with Rainbow.

“I said straight away, even before he got the sentence, that I knew I would stay by him and he knew it as well. It is true love,” said the 25-year-old, who is originally from Poland.

The couple were married inside the 170-year-old prison in May 2012, but finances forced Marzena to make the heart-breaking decision to return to Cardiff last December to live with her mother in St Mellons.

Daniel, from Newport, has his own cell, with a bed, toilet, window and a wardrobe, as well as a calendar to tick off the days. Compared to other foreign prisons, the conditions are “not too bad”, he said.

The chef spends his time going to the gym, writing and learning Polish. He also has a job assembling Playmobil dolls to pay for drinking water, stamps, cigarettes and soap.

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“It’s the same as anywhere else; it comes down to the person. If you want to fight to stay mentally fit, you will get through it,” Daniel said.

“Unfortunately, time is time and it’s quite a long time. I take it day by day. I don’t even think about the end of the month or the end of the year.

“Even though we haven’t seen each other now for seven or eight months, I’m a lot happier knowing Marzena and Rainbow are surrounded by a loving family. It makes it a lot easier for me knowing everybody else outside is all right.”

His family post him photographs and DVDs of Rainbow, as well as recordings from British TV to keep him up to date with life back home.

“I received videos of her walking, eating with a spoon, and her first teeth – all the things you miss, there is so much really,” Daniel said.

“As a substitute it helps, obviously nothing compares to the reality of being there and supporting them. It’s very hard when I think about them surviving out there.

“It’s definitely the hardest part, knowing that if it goes the full sentence, if the appeal doesn’t work, she will be in school, close to 10 years old, and it will be incredibly hard bonding with her.”

Rainbow turned two last month and during her birthday party, her daddy telephoned to join in the celebrations.

“The cell is covered in pictures and every time I make a doll or do anything, I always look at a picture for strength,” he said.

“I’m very lucky that I have that, a lot of people in here don’t. I see them cope with prison in a totally different way. If you’ve got nothing on the outside to look forward to, you can decline very quickly in here.”

He’s looking forward to seeing his wife and child again when they return to Malta for the appeal decision on October 31, although he admits from his experience of the Maltese judicial system, he is “not very hopeful”.

Daniel and his flatmate were found in possession of cannabis plants weighing about 1kg – which included the stems, roots and leaves – but Malta’s drug laws make no distinction between cultivating and trafficking.

Daniel’s sentence sparked an outcry on the island, with thousands signing petitions calling for a fair sentence on appeal.

“It’s been a total whitewash of a case. Even compared to a lot of sentences in here, it is unbelievable. One guy sentenced for 7kg of heroin got the same years as me,” Daniel said.

“Literally for a few plants, which is all it was. In the beginning, they put me down as a drug baron and cannabis factory owner, when realistically it was five plants and 25 baby plants.

“I obviously knew what I was doing was illegal in most countries, but most countries wouldn’t have dealt with it with this much of a sentence.”

Asked how he felt about Malta now, he replied: “I’ve spent almost eight or nine years on the island. I’ve made a lot of good friends. The island itself is nice and the people are generous, but unfortunately all these proceedings are slowly breaking me.

“I can’t say I hate Malta, I don’t want to be a hateful person and obviously my daughter was born here and I met my wife here, but it’s very hard not to hate the place.”

The thought of being reunited with his family and returning to a “mundane life” back in Wales “sounds amazing from in here”, he said.

“After all this time, I’d be like one of those films where you see the guy fall to the floor and kiss the dirt. It would be very nice to see a mountain and some greenery. Even the rain I think I’d look forward to.

“I was 26 when I first came here and I’m now 35 and if they have their way, I’ll be 42 when I leave. It’s been a hell of an experience to be honest.”

Marzena, who first got together with Daniel while they were both working in an English restaurant in 2010, said her “extremely honest and loyal” husband was “a very special person” and “worth waiting for”.

Since moving back to Cardiff, she has only managed to fly out to Malta once, in January, but talks to him daily on the phone.

“Rainbow has changed so much. She started speaking not long ago and when she sees photos or videos of him, she’s always like ‘daddy, daddy’. It’s not the best situation, but hey, we have to cope with it,” the part-time caterer and baker said.

She added: “In the best-case scenario, he’s actually going to get out straight away, so that’s what I’m hoping for and that’s what’s going to happen. If not, we’ll go from there. For now, I don’t have anything but hope for that.

“If not, then he could be transferred to Britain. We are staying very positive though. He is a very strong man and I try to stay strong for him.”

The son of two teachers, Daniel attended Newport’s Bassaleg School along with sisters Chloe, 39, and Lucy, 31. He qualified as a chef at Nash College (Coleg Gwent) and went on to work at renowned restaurant The Walnut Tree in Abergavenny.

He then worked at various pubs and restaurants, while at the same time pursuing his other passion of scuba-diving. In 2004, Daniel decided to combine his diving and chef skills by moving to Malta.

It was a decision that would change his life, as well as that of his family.

Far from being a drug baron, he relied on his parents, retired teachers Mel and Kate, who live in Risca, Newport, for money to pay rent and bills.

In the first year after his arrest in 2006, Daniel was kept in custody before his father managed to get him bail on the proviso that he would live with his dad.

It was while on bail that Daniel turned his life around, giving up pot and falling in love with Marzena.

The saga has cost Mel and Kate about £30,000, but the toll on the family has been “immeasurable”.

“In some ways, we’ve all grown stronger. Our hope is that he and us will come out of it better people,” Mel said.

Mel and Kate visit their son as much as possible, but Kate’s health makes it difficult. She this week thanked the charity Prisoners Abroad for their support, adding: “We want to warn young people going on holiday to Malta that they have to be so careful.”