A JAILED arms dealer is likely to represent himself in an appeal hearing against his conviction in India.

Peter Bleach, from Fylingdales, near Whitby, North Yorkshire, has spent more than six years in a Calcutta prison for his part in an arms drop in West Bengal.

The Indian government has agreed to hear his appeal on September 21. Pleas for clemency made by former Home Secretary Jack Straw earlier this year were turned down.

Bleach, a former pupil of St Peter's School, York, has been studying Indian law for five years and it is thought he will represent himself.

A friend, Richard Stansfield, said: "He knows the Indian law backwards now and, in this case, I think he is doing the right thing representing himself."