Daniel Holmes, who eight years ago was sentenced to 10 years in prison on drug trafficking charges, is on his way back to Wales after having been released from the Corradino Correctional Facility.

The Welshman, 37, was arrested in July 2006. Five years later he was jailed for more than a decade and fined €23,000 for possession of around a kilo of cannabis.

Since his verdict, Maltese laws regarding cannabis have changed, with for example, the introduction of legal medical cannabis. Companies have also been allowed to set up production facilities locally.

Last December, Holmes spoke with Welsh news portal Wales Online. At the time he said that he could be paroled by August.

Speaking to the Welsh news portal, Holmes said: "It has taken such a chunk of my life - all my married life - for cannabis. It just strikes me as ridiculous."

Daniel's post-release future remains up in the air. "I don't know if they are going to deport me - I'm trying to get my passport back," Holmes was quoted as saying.

He said he wants to go back to the UK because his family is there. His wife Marzena, whom he married in prison in 2012, had to return to Cardiff in December of that same year because of financial issues. Holmes met his daughter Blossom for the first time in 2016. She was conceived while her father was in prison.

"When we get back together as a family I should think we'll spend a long time catching up. I have been away from my wife for so long. We might try and add to the tribe as well," Daniel had said to Wales online.