For two and a half years Peter Bleach's home has been an eight-foot square cell in the Presidency Prison in Calcutta, India. It's a world away from the farmhouse in the heart of the North York Moors, which the 46-year-old was forced to abandon after he became involved in a world of black-market arms dealing, the secret world of intelligence and international conspiracies to bring down Governments.

Since December 1995, Mr Bleach has shared the "medieval and inhumane" living conditions with five Latvians, who were arrested with him on Christmas Eve. Today will be their 1,245th day cooped-up in the squalid prison - where the only toilet amenities are buckets in the corner of the room.

Mr Bleach was arrested after he was alleged to have dropped ammunition and weapons into West Bengal from the plane he had bought in Europe. He is alleged to have been involved with an international smuggling ring and faces a total of 12 charges, including attempting to wage war on India, which carries the death penalty.

Peter James Bleach was born to a former British Army major and a German mother in North Yorkshire. He was educated from 1964 to 1969 at St Peter's School in York.

After leaving school he joined the British Army's Intelligence Corps, but left as a Lance-Corporal three years later. After some years in Rhodesia, he moved to Southend in Essex, where he set up as a private investigator, moving into an office in the same building at the Southend Conservative Association.

He became involved in the arms trade after meeting a dealer who took him on as an agent.

Eventually, he branched out on his own as a registered dealer and in 1989, with his girlfriend, Jo Fletcher, he bought Howdale Farm, near Fylingdales in North Yorkshire, and set up a defence sales company.

His case has been dubbed the "Arms to India Affair", and the shady world of guerrilla warfare that Mr Bleach he has become entangled in will be the feature of a television documentary tonight.

Peter's mother, Oceania Bleach, 73, who lives at Brompton-by-Sawdon, near Scarborough, re-lives the moment she heard that her son had been arrested.

In broken English she said: "I was laid in bed resting, suddenly I heard 'Bleach' and 'air service' and being chased out of the sky.

"I could not believe my ears - it was quite extraordinary. That was devastating."

It is a story that began with an order for cigarettes for Bangladesh and ended with Mr Bleach and members of a Latvian aircrew being imprisoned.

In 1995 Mr Bleach contacted North Yorkshire Special Branch and told them that his order for cigarettes had become one for 300 rifles and rockets. He suspected they were aimed for the Hindu group Ananda Marg, which opposes the Communist Government in the federal state of West Bengal.

He contacted Ministry of Defence's Export Services Organisation with details of the illegal deal and was visited by Special Branch officers at his North Yorkshire home.

He was advised to stick with the conspirators and find out more.

Mr Bleach continued to meet with the co-conspirators: he travelled to Copenhagen to meet representatives of Ananda Marg before securing a Russian Antonov aircraft and crew in Bulgaria.

He passed the latest information onto the Special Branch in a second meeting when they told him to pull out of the arms deal.

Ian Lynch, of North Yorkshire Special Branch, said: "My officers told him not to take part anymore and that he must pull out; that this was the information we had got from security services.

"There was no requirement or desire for Peter Bleach to continue with the deal."

Mr Bleach withdrew from direct involvement with the deal - another company was to supply the weapons - but he was asked by the plotters to organise the purchase of a suitable aircraft. He says he did this to give him cover for pulling out of the arms deal.

Despite the warnings to pull out altogether, Mr Bleach, was on the flight with the Latvian crew and the conspirators, as it set off on its trip on December 17, 1995.

The unsuspecting crew of the transport plane discovered at gun point what they thought was technical equipment for Bangladesh was four tonnes of weapons. They were forced to make the drop near the village of Purulia.

They managed to hoodwink the gun-runners by dropping the arms from the wrong altitude. They missed the intended drop zone and most of the weapons were soon in the hands of the Indian police, and so were Mr Bleach and the crew after the plane was intercepted at Madras.

Also on board was Kim Davy, an agent with a number of aliases and the man supposedly at the centre of the operation. He escaped from the airport and has never been found.

So far, Peter Bleach has appeared in Calcutta Court 117 times over the last two and a half years although the case proper has just got under way. Every day he returns to his cell and works on his defence - he has no money, and will represent himself when the case finally gets underway. He has only just received the papers from the Government confirming that he did supply information to them on the arms smuggling incident.

Meanwhile, back home family and friends are battling to prove his innocence.

His former girlfriend, who moved back to London after their farm was repossessed, has not seen or spoken to Peter for two and a half years. She relies on letters.

"Peter is a highly intelligent man, who has charm and charisma and can be funny.

"He is determined and he enjoys being involved in things that stretch him - he enjoys being on the more dangerous side of life," she said.

Sir Teddy Taylor, MP for Rochford and Southend East, who has known Peter Bleach for 15 years, said: "Peter is not someone who goes around telling lies. And he would not get involved in a nasty and filthy conspiracy. I think he thought the authorities were aware of it - he may have even thought they approved."

Despite the fact that she says he is in "high spirits and is determined to prove his innocence", the last two and a half years look as if they have taken their toll on Peter, who looks very gaunt.

"I believed the Indian authorities had all the background information, and after giving a statement to the police I would be free. I knew we'd have a couple of bad days, but then that would be it," he said.

"I'm not guilty. I've seen it said in the newspapers that it would be a shame if I hang for my naivet. I don't think it should be nave to report a terrorist incident and expect the police to do something about it. But apparently it is. I think it's extraordinary that you can obey the law and end up in jail for reporting a terrorist incident."

see NEWS 'Don't let him die'

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