Dilwyn Stow: Committed everything he owns

He has spent thousands battling to prove their innocence and he admitted he had reached the stage of possibly having to sell his house to cover their legal fees.

The brothers had set off from Wales in their fishing boat with the dream of setting up a diving school in Portugal.

They had stopped off at the Canary Islands off the Portuguese coast before docking at the port of Faro, intending to set up a business aimed at the lucrative tourist market.

In the dock, their boat was searched by Portuguese police as a formality and nothing was found.

I have spent every penny I have got and now I am on borrowed money

Dilwyn Stow, father

However, as the brothers carried out repairs on the hull of their boat, they found �3m of hashish on the sea bottom.

Police claimed they had dragged it into the port in their nets.

They had been acting on false evidence that Graham Stow was a known drug dealer.

Dyfed-Powys Police have cooperated by drafting a letter which shows that neither brother had a criminal record or was known to the police.

Andrew Stow: Held by Portuguese police

Their legal representative Adrian Jenkins said there was no strong evidence linking the pair to the drugs find.

"The waters were too shallow, the boat was not strong enough or fully equipped," said Mr Jenkins.

"It is just not possible for them physically to have towed the drugs into Faro harbour."

Prove innocence

Now Mr Stow will attend his sons' court hearing to hear the evidence against them.

"I have spent every penny I have got and now I am on borrowed money," he said.

"I have a small motor caravan and a house that I own and if it does not work this time, they will go and I will continue."

Adrian Jenkins: 'No evidence against them'

Their legal team is confident it can prove - during the week long hearing - that they were in the Algarve for purely innocent reasons.

Stephen Jakobi, from Fair Trials Abroad described the length of time the men had waited for their trial as "quite extraordinary".

He said: "It is quite against the European Convention of Human Rights, for a fairly simple trial.

"We have been campaigning for a Euro Bail system for several years, we thought we had converted Jack Straw (Home Secretary) a couple of years ago, but unfortunately, Europe has done nothing about this.

"I think it is a total scandal. There are thousands of people at any one time sitting in jails who should not be there."