A NORTH-EAST man has launched an appeal after being jailed for three-and-a-half years for his part in a backstreet fight on the Greek island of Crete eight years ago.

Michael Tonge, 28, who is from North Shields, in North Tyneside, was originally accused of attempted murder, but was convicted of misdemeanour - a lesser offence - when he appeared in court.

His friend, Lee Yarrow, 31, also from North Tyneside, had aiding and abetting charges against him dropped.

The men had been arrested after an incident with a group of Greek muggers left one of the gang claiming he had been slashed across the neck with a bottle.

They were released and returned to the North-East, but in December last year they were extradited back to Greece in handcuffs to stand trial.

Both were held on remand for five months ahead of this week's hearing in Rethymnon, Crete.

After the sentence was read out, Tonge's lawyers immediately launched an appeal. That is to be heard in August and his defence team says its is confident that because of the time he has already served in jail he will be released later this summer.

His partner, Vicky Limbrick, the mother of Tonge's two-year-old daughter, was in Greece for the hearing and has told friends and family she is delighted at the outcome.

Meanwhile, Mr Yarrow's mother, Bobby, said she celebrated the news of her son's release with a bottle of champagne.

"We had a brief phone call from Lee and he told me he had been found not guilty," she said.

"He was upset Michael had been found guilty of an offence, but at least it wasn't the more serious charge.

"We are delighted Lee is coming home, but he will find it very hard to leave Michael behind."

In 1999, Robin Cook, the then Foreign Secretary, the British Consul and Amnesty International took up the pair's case after Tonge spent four months in custody and complained of inhumane treatment by police and prison officers.

He said he had been beaten by guards, kept in a rat-infested cell, saw fellow prisoners commit suicide, attack each other with knives and openly deal heroin.