A Bradford licensee who is battling throat cancer could be sent back to a Thai jail for alleged drug smuggling.

Kevin Quill, who cannot speak after emergency surgery to remove his larynx, e-mailed the Telegraph & Argus to tell of his fears.

Mr Quill, 44, spent seven months in the notorious Chonburi prison when he was jailed for six years after being convicted of smuggling amphetamine.

The former manager of Bradford's Fighting Cock, Diplomat and Idle Cock pubs said he shared a cell with 90 other inmates, lost three stones in weight and suffered boils and scabies.

He successfully appealed against the conviction but that decision has now been challenged by Thai prosecutors.

Now Mr Quill fears he could be returned to jail if a further ruling goes against him at the Thai Supreme Court where his case is waiting to be heard.

Mr Quill said: "I was cleared by the Appeal Court of Thailand for an offence everyone accepts I did not commit. The prosecutor appealed on flimsy terms to the Supreme Court. We have heard nothing.

"I am afraid to antagonise the situation any more by complaining but I would like to know what I am supposed to do if the unthinkable happens and they send me back to a Thai prison in this condition." The father of two, who lives in the resort of Pattaya, is also having to adjust to life under a military coup.

He said: "All major arteries - railways, airports, major highways - and government buildings have armed military present, wearing full combat gear and carrying machine guns."

But he told of "a jovial atmosphere" with families being photographed with tanks and troops. He described it as: "more like a carnival, only it isn't!"

Mr Quill, a businessman and hotel owner, said a biopsy in February revealed cancer of his right vocal chord. He had six weeks of daily radiation treatment in Bangkok, a round trip of up to seven hours.

"I was examined and told the radiation had not been successful - and that was the bombshell," Mr Quill said.

In August, Thai surgeons performed a total laryngectomy, meaning he now has no voice box. He has since had oxygen treatment at the King's Royal Thai Air Force Hospital in Bangkok. This involves going into a pressurised tank and breathing pure oxygen to heal the surgical wound.

Mr Quill said: "It is extremely difficult for me to move around, translate, or anything. I walk around with a whiteboard, marker and rubber. My business partner Tam must be with me everywhere I go or I run into difficulties.

"Nobody wishes to speak to you as they find you too difficult to communicate with and prefer to avoid you. They even walk away when you are giving a written answer to a question they have asked.

"Even the people I know shout at me as though I am deaf and dumb or mentally challenged. I try to explain: It's me, Kevin. I've had an operation. I can hear and, believe me, my brain is intact.'"

Mr Quill cannot have a new voice box fitted until radiation is completed in two months.

Asked what he misses most about Bradford, he said: "The Fighting Cock, the Indian restaurants, the rain, the bars - and everything that makes Bradford."

A Foreign Office spokesman said Mr Quill was still technically on bail and they had received an unconfirmed report that the Supreme Court hearing was taking place next month but were unable to verify this.