British football coach must wait six weeks to find out if his appeal against a 25 year jail term in Dubai for having cannabis oil in his car will be successful
A British football coach who was handed a 25-year jail term in Dubai for possessing cannabis oil has had his appeal hearing delayed by six weeks, it was revealed today.
Billy Hood, 24, was arrested in January and convicted by a court of drug trafficking with intent to supply - despite being able to prove the vape liquid belonged to a visiting friend who had mistakenly left it in his car.
An appeal was set to be heard in Dubai today, but Radha Stirling, CEO of pressure group Detained in Dubai - an organisation that helps foreign nationals arrested in the emirate - said today that the hearing has been delayed to November 30.
British football coach Billy Hood, 24, from London, (pictured) has been jailed for 25 years in Dubai after four small bottles of vape liquid containing cannabis oil were found in his car
Speaking on the group's podcast, Ms Stirling said that the lawyers representing Mr Hood in Dubai attended court today 'and were told to come back in six weeks, on the 30th of November.'
She added that the lawyers advised her that the date can change and that the 'judicial process is rather random and unpredictable in the UAE'.
'However, what this does show is that the UAE is likely to keep Billy in custody for another six weeks,' Ms Stirling said.'Billy has already spent a horrendous nine months in a Dubai jail notorious for human rights violations after being forced to confess to serious crimes in Arabic.
'Adding yet another delay to his freedom and the review of his defence evidence is gutting to the family and to Billy. Every day an innocent man spends a day in prison is a travesty,' she said.
Hood, who played semi-professional football for Kensington and Ealing Borough FC, was stunned when police unexpectedly turned up at his flat in January and demanded to search his home and company car.
An appeal for Hood's case was set to be heard in Dubai today, but Radha Stirling (pictured today on Good Morning Britain), CEO of Detained in Dubai - an organisation that helps foreign nationals arrested in the emirate - said today that the hearing has been delayed to November 30
Four small vials of vape liquid containing cannabis oil (CBD) and a vape pen were later found in the passenger door compartment.
Detained in Dubai and Ms Stirling have claimed that the court has documents that prove Dubai police have 'basically manufactured a case against Billy,' and are calling on increased travel warning to be in place for British nationals visiting the UAE.
'The prosecution evidence that Billy was 'selling drugs' relies solely on Billy having £4,000 cash in his apartment and they are fully aware this was money paid by his employer for his coaching job,' she explained.
In regards to the allegation of posession, she said 'social media communications confirm that the bottles were not Billy's, did not belong to him and that he had no interest or desire to have them in his possession'.
'Billy should not be punished for the mistakes of his friend,' she added. 'It is appalling that the police charged him with selling drugs and even more appalling that the Judge accepted it.'
Pointing to other cases involving British nationals - Albert Douglas who has also been locked up for nine months, and Lee Bradley Brown who was killed in police custody in 2011 - the group has called on Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FDCO) to take action against the emirate.
'The families have also appealed to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum to review the evidence and help these men get home to their families' Ms Stirling added.
Mr Hood's best friend Alfie Cain, 24, claimed last week that Hood told him he was beaten, slapped, and only given bread and small amounts of water while at the Al-Barsha prison by police officers.
Billy Hood's best friend Alfie Cain, 24, (pictured) has claimed Hood told him he was beaten, slapped, and only given bread and small amounts of water while at the Al-Barsha jail by police officers
Hood, from Notting Hill, west London, told Cain he only signed a confession to the drugs charges, which was written in Arabic, because officers said if he did the abuse would stop.
Hood's mother Breda Guckion, 55, also claimed officers laughed in her son's face as he slept on the floor of a prison cell with 30 others and told him that if he didn't sign the confession, 'you're not getting out of here'.
Cain, who is a football agent, told The Sun: 'It's been bad at Al-Barsha, I'm not going to sugar coat it.
'When they took him to the CID drugs unit they beat him for an entire five days, he told me police officers tasered him, slapped him in the face and all they fed him was bread and a little water.
'He was basically tortured and put in a cell with 30 other people for five days.'
Police in Dubai are thought to have singled out Billy (left, with his aunt) after monitoring WhatsApp messages as a week before his arrest the friend, who owned the vape liquid, sent a message telling him he had mistakenly left it behind in his car
Family members have said Hood was so frightened and tired that he agreed to sign a confession, written in Arabic, not knowing he had admitted to such serious crimes.
Police in Dubai are thought to have singled out Hood after monitoring WhatsApp messages and looking for key words related to drugs.
A week before his arrest the friend who owned the vape liquid sent a message telling Hood he had mistakenly left it behind in his car.
Speaking about Hood's confession, Cain said: 'Billy said they told him he could go home if he signed the paper, that's why he gave in and signed that piece of paper in Arabic he had no idea what he signing, but he just wanted to make it stop.'
The claims come after Hood's mother Breda said that the 25-year prison sentence 'breaks me every day'.
Speaking about her son's prison conditions in Dubai, Breda told Good Morning Britain on Thursday: 'I know in the beginning they weren't good, when they made him sign that statement.
'I know that he was in a room with 30 others, sleeping on a floor with a blanket, bread and water - nothing else. Until he signed that statement that was in Arabic.
'I think he did after the fourth or fifth day, but they laughed in his face and said, 'Well, if you don't sign it you're not getting out of here'.'
Breda admitted that she 'still had hope' that Hood would be released from prison, but upon hearing her son would spend a quarter of a century behind bars she said 'it completely broke me'.
The heartbroken mother said: 'I think that for the first nine months, even though we knew he had done nothing wrong, we still had that hope.
'But hearing that it was 25 years, it broke us, it completely broke us.'
Vape liquid containing CBD with less than 0.2% of THC is legal in the UK, but is illegal in Dubai where there is a zero tolerance to drugs (stock image)
Breda, fighting back tears, added: 'It still breaks me every day just thinking about it. Just seeing his photo breaks me now.'
Speaking about why the vape liquid was found in his car, she explained: 'He had dropped off one of his friends at the airport and they had left it in the car. And that's why it was there.'
Police in Dubai are thought to have singled out Hood after monitoring WhatsApp messages and looking for key words related to drugs such as 'CBD'.
A week before his arrest the friend who owned the vape liquid sent a message telling Hood he had mistakenly left it behind in his car.
Breda said it is thought that the message was intercepted because it had 'CBD' in it. She said: 'Everything we get from them is in Arabic, so we're finding it hard to translate everything but yes, that's what they say.'
The ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed was last week revealed to have used spyware to hack into the phone of his ex-wife and her lawyer Baroness Shackleton while a custody hearing was taking place at the High Court.
The United Arab Emirates are known to be users of the Israeli made spyware known as Pegasus.
Cannabis and cannabis oil is illegal in Dubai where there is a zero tolerance to drugs.
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