MY 8-YEAR ORDEAL IN MALTA JAIL
In 2004 Daniel Holmes quit his job in south Wales and moved to Malta with dreams of starting a new life.
But after arriving in Malta, he instead spent the next few years in jail for having just five cannabis plants in his flat.
During that time, Mr Holmes has fathered a daughter who hardly knows him and tattooed himself more than 80 times after a Romanian man taught him in his prison cell.
After 2,854 days in a Maltese prison, Mr Holmes is finally free and arrived back home in Wales on Thursday.
Mr Holmes, 40, from Newport, left Wales on a rainy day around 14 years ago.
He said: “I was working in Wetherspoons in Cardiff, and I was doing pretty well.
“But I just thought one day that I needed to get away.
“I’d never heard of Malta then, so I went to work [and] I said to somebody ‘I’ve had enough of this I’m going away,’ they said ‘where are you going’ and I just said Malta.
“I didn’t really understand what I said, but afterwards I thought I really am going to have to go for this otherwise I’ll look like a fool. So I packed everything up and I went.”
Enjoying the good food and cheap cigarettes, Mr Holmes said he felt “content” with life in Malta.
“I realised that you could have a nice life without all the money and things you don’t need.
“I’d wake up, go down the beach, go spearfishing or go diving. I’d eat pizza, pasta, really cheap stuff, and it was the quality of life which had really improved rather than the material things around you.
“I never thought about leaving, and I never thought about staying but I just felt really content and happy in the moment.”
A self-confessed advocate for medicinal cannabis, Daniel said he and a friend decided to grow their own after his friend was robbed during a drug deal.
He said the pair used to grow “very small” amounts for personal use to try and cut out the criminal element of buying the drug.
Both of them were arrested in a dawn raid in 2006.
Mr Holmes said: “I came out of the house at about 6am, and in the minute I got in the car and put the keys in the ignition they came from everywhere with guns.
“They were plain clothes, coming at me in a foreign language with guns and at first I thought that this was it. I thought they were coming to kill me.
“It was only after all this they said they were police.”
Police found the five cannabis plants and Mr Holmes was held for 11 days before being bailed.
He was later held on remand for almost a year on suspicion of car theft but was found not guilty of that.
Mr Holmes was convicted on the island of Gozo in 2011 where he was handed a decade-long sentence at Corradino Correctional Facility near the Maltese capital Valletta.
In 2009, while on bail, Mr Holmes met his now wife Marzena when they both worked in a pub.
The couple have two daughters, seven-year-old Rainbow and threeyear-old Blossom. Their youngest daughter was conceived while Daniel was in prison.
Mr Holmes said: “As soon as I got home the children were so excited to show me around the house.
“It was very strange being taken around by the children and them sharing everything.
“One of the main things they wanted to show me was their bedroom and all the certificates they got from school and every single toy from the past seven and three years.
“They wanted to show me all their devices, every little toy, every bit of paper, every drawing from school - all these things I’ve missed.
“It was quite fantastic to see the children so excited and genuinely happy.”
Although he was allowed two 45-minute visits in prison each week and maintained contact with his family, Mr Holmes said missing out on his children growing up was difficult.
He said: “Every week I would send them letters, colouring pages or something to stay connected.
“Me and her [Rainbow] we are a bit closer than me and Blossom.
“She’s only three so she is very shy with me. She won’t come too close [and] she’s very unsure.
“It’s going to take time, but it’s hard. I want to kiss her and cuddle her and sometimes she doesn’t want to.”
Mr Holmes said: “I woke up this morning and made the kids pancakes with Nutella for breakfast.
“I just sat down and watched them and it’s the best meal I could ever dream of because I was feeding on all their emotions.”
While in prison Mr Holmes spent much of his time writing, and now plans to publish an autobiography.
More information about Mr Holmes’ work can be found on his website www.daholmespoetry.co.uk/