THE father of a Swindon man jailed for fraud in the Philippines is applying for a pardon from the Pope to bring him home after six years of imprisonment.

Kevin Taylor, 49, originally from Swindon, has been detained along with partner Charlene at San Mateo municipal jail since 2009 on charges of defrauding jobseekers with promises of employment in the UK.

He has maintained his innocence throughout.

And fresh from the Pope’s official visit last month, the Filipino government has said it will free about 200 prisoners as a gift to the Pontiff.

Kevin’s father Gerald hopes his son will be among them – even submitting a written application to the government stating the impact jail has had on him.

He said: “We’ve had a good response confirming their acceptance of the application. We are just waiting now for the next stage now.”

The pardons will be decided on the basis of prisoners’ age and health.

Gerald said: “There’s a lack of food, a lack of sunlight. He’s got scabies, which is rife in the prison. He’s got high blood pressure which he needs medication for. He’s on pills to make him sleep, pills to wake him up. He spends all his time sleeping because he is confined to his cell with 20 or 30 others. He can’t even get up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet because he might disturb someone.

“He’s completely blind in his left eye and he can only see shadows in his right eye. He has to ask for assistance if he walks around otherwise no one will help.”

Kevin has not seen his family in more than 10 years.

He is allowed limited contact with them through twice weekly phone calls but Gerald and his wife Mary are nearing breaking point.

“All we can do is try and cheer him up but at this point there’s nothing really we can do in a five-minute call,” his father said.

“He can’t get any lower. We’ve told him about the application but he’s been let down before so he is not hoping for anything.

“He’s losing his mind in there. We’ll speak to him, we spoke to him on Sunday and he’ll forget what we are talking about. He needs to come home.

“It will take time for Kevin to get back into society. It will take years for him to go back to normality and a normal life.

“He’s an ordinary man who got caught up in something; it all backfired on him.”

Gerald said that since September Kevin had been separated from his partner, with the pair communicating only through letters when given permission.

Faced with mounting legal bills, Gerald and Mary have been forced to cut off financial support to their son, who needs help paying for medication.

MP Justin Tomlinson has rallied behind Kevin, saying: “I have repeatedly pressed for the authorities to show compassion in what are clearly challenging circumstances.”