THE trial of York air enthusiast Andy Jenkins, who was arrested in Greece on spying charges, could take up to a year to come to court, according to his solicitor.

Ioannis Zacharias, lawyer for the 12 British "plane spotters" who were accused of accessing state secrets while on holiday in Greece, said the case might not come before a judge until 2003.

He is due to visit Britain in the coming weeks, to ask the group to decide if they want to press for an earlier trial.

"We can push for the trial to be earlier, possibly as early as March or April of this year, but we must move quickly," he told the Evening Press.

"If we want to move the trial forward, we will have to make an application to do so before we lose the chance.

"That is why I want to see my clients, and ask them what they want to do," said Mr Zacharias.

But Andy, who has been suffering with flu since his return from Greece, said he was still intent on returning to fight a trial "ASAP".

"I want to be back there and fighting my case as soon as I can," he told the Evening Press.

"Just give me time to get over my flu, and then I'd like to be over there."

Andy believes his poor health may have stemmed from the conditions in the Greek jail in which he spent 37 days before Christmas.

"As far as I know from the other members of the group, our intention across the board is to go back quickly. If it gets to 2003, the Greeks will be chairing the European Union and well into organising the Olympic Games, so that will give them reasons to bury the interest in this.

"There is only one course of action."

Andy said he was unaware of Mr Zacharias' planned visit to Britain, but he would tell the lawyer he was still determined to return to Greece quickly.

Andy and the other 11 Britons were arrested at Kalamata air base in November last year. The charges against them have been dropped from spying to "illegal information collection", although the new charge still carries a possible jail sentence.

Andy and the other group members deny taking photographs of active military aircraft, or notes which compromised national security.

Updated: 10:08 Thursday, January 10, 2002