A MAN who staged a terrifying 31-hour siege 12 years ago - and smuggled £250,000 of heroin into Britain a decade later - is suing Home Secretary David Blunkett for £15,000.

Roger Amos was jailed for nine years after kidnapping a Newport man and holding him at gunpoint at the Kings Hotel in Newport.

Then, in December 2001, Amos, of Hillview Crescent, Newport, was jailed for 11 years for smuggling almost three kilos of heroin into the UK from India.

Amos, who is now serving his drug smuggling sentence at Garth prison, Leyland, Lancashire, has lodged a claim for compensation for alleged negligent and unlawful acts against him at HMP Manchester.

In his claim he says: "I claim a tort of negligence by the defendant, the Home Secretary, in his failure to enforce proper controls and or supervision over his employees, the governor of HMP Manchester and others who failed in their duties to process claims, maintain equal opportunities and prevent my treatment whilst in their care, from becoming inhumane and degrading and or to act in a professional manner."

Amos claimed that such negligent acts while at HMP Manchester, known as Strangeways, resulted in "excessive delays to valid applications". He claims: "I seek compensation of expenses and damages for the negligent and unlawful acts against my person.

"I wish my claim to issue in the High Court because I expect to recover more than £15,000."

A spokesman for the Home Office said they were aware of the case. Amos was jailed for offences of kidnap, unlawful wounding and, and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, following the 1991 siege.

During his trial for heroin smuggling, Amos denied knowing that a suitcase he bought in Bombay contained the heroin. The court heard the heroin weighed almost three kilos and was 51 per cent pure.

When arrested at Manchester Airport, Amos - who was working in Gwent as a garage manager earning around £20,000 a year - said he was "shattered".

Amos, who represented himself, said the drugs must have been in the case before he had bought it, and insisted he had no knowledge of them. Jurors convicted him unanimously.