THE lawyer representing arrested York air enthusiast Andy Jenkins in Greece said today that Andy should be a free man by next Wednesday morning.

Speaking exclusively to the Evening Press, Ioannis Zacharias revealed that Andy definitely did not take notes or pictures of aircraft at an air base near the town of Kalamata, and that he was not the member of the group who had a frequency scanner.

He said that only seven members of the group took notes, and only three of those seven had taken notes which had "cause to worry the Greek airforce".

Andy, he said, was not one of them.

"I am optimistic that those who have little to do with the espionage charges should be released following their meeting with the investigating judge on Tuesday," he said.

Mr Zacharias said the case against Andy would be most likely lowered from a felony to a misdemeanour, which does not carry a prison sentence, although he could not specify what penalty they might actually receive.

The felony charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

The group will appear before the judge at Kalamata on Tuesday afternoon, when each will be questioned individually, with Mr Zacharias present.

The lawyer said that by remanding all the members in custody, the Greek justices had chosen to take the strictest possible path open to them.

He would be "very concerned" if Andy and the other members who took no notes were not freed. If that happened, he said, he would file an immediate appeal to allow them to be released on bail.

"First of all I would ask the judge to release them with no conditions, but I may have to make a deal that they would not leave Greece while the other proceedings continue."

He said: "This case started out as a joke and then became very serious.

"The only precedents for this kind of case are from the 1950s, and no one in the legal profession here even remembers them."

The British Consul in Athens, Donald Holder, told the Evening Press he was also hoping for a swift end to Mr Jenkins's plight, but admitted the situation was unlike any he has encountered before.

Mr Holder said he was satisfied that the Greek justice system was working as quickly as possible to establish the guilt or innocence of Andy, from Barkston Avenue, and his 11 British colleagues who face spying charges.

The group were arrested at an air base in the Greek town of Kalamata, for allegedly taking notes and photographs of warplanes and for using scanners to eavesdrop on the military.

On Tony Blair's recent discussion of the case with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, he said: "They were talking about the Afghanistan situation, but obviously Mr Blair had gone prepared to discuss this.

"In the event, it was Mr Simitis who raised it, saying he hoped it could be resolved swiftly."

Friends of Mr Jenkins said today they were increasingly concerned about the conditions he was being held in.

Brigid Hairsine, from Rawcliffe, York, said her husband, Adrian, had received an email from the son of Lesley Coppin, the woman being held. She said Mrs Coppin believed a number of the enthusiasts - including Mr Jenkins - were being held because they had the registration numbers of military helicopters in their notebooks.

But Mrs Hairsine said the email claimed the helicopters had been in plain sight. She was also concerned about the group's diet and the fact they were still in the clothes they were arrested in.

Updated: 13:51 Friday, November 23, 2001