Brit pensioner, 72, begs Boris Johnson to free him from ‘rat riddled prison’ after £1m cocaine smuggling plot
A BRIT pensioner jailed in Portugal with his wife over a £1million cocaine smuggling plot has begged Boris Johnson to free him from his “rat-infested” prison.
Roger and Susan Clarke are serving eight years after they were caught with the class A drug hidden in their suitcases during a cruise.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Roger, 72, moaned about the grim conditions inside Portugal’s EP Lisboa jail, and said he was desperate for the Prime Minister’s help.
He told the paper he’d lost six stone, had suffered a suspected heart attack and is plagued by rats “as big as rabbits” scuttling around his cell.
He said: “I have sent a letter to the PM asking him to look into our case.”
“My wife and I are completely innocent and have fallen victims to cruel drug smugglers.
“I’ve learnt from other inmates some very interesting, nasty stories about drugs being taken into the UK.”
BUSTED
The Clarkes were arrested on the Marco Polo cruise liner when cops found nine kilos of coke in the lining of four suitcases Roger was handed on St Lucia last December.
Roger’s latest bid for help comes after Susan, 71, complained that she is only given water to drink – and is annoyed that the guards in the Lisbon prison don’t speak English.
In a letter to a friend, she wrote: “It’s very hard here, especially with the language difference.
“I’m in a room with four other women and only one speaks English. It is very cold. There is no heating at all.
‘ONLY ONE CUP OF TEA A DAY’
“We only get one hot drink a day, with breakfast, then water with lunch and dinner.
“I can honestly say that we had no idea what was happening until the police in Portugal searched our luggage.
They had been in the middle of a dream £6,800 Caribbean cruise when Portuguese officials were tipped of by UK cops.
Retired chef Roger told a trial in Lisbon he had no idea drugs were in the cases and he was taking them back to the UK for a friend called ‘Lee’.
Clarke told the court ‘Lee’ was a UK-based Jamaican businessman who worked with an associate called ‘Dee,’ who he named in court as George Wilmot.
The ex-chef whispered to his wife in court: “Jesus Christ, I wasn’t expecting more than four” as they were sentenced and ordered to serve their sentences in Portugal.
Mr Clarke held hands with his wife as they learnt their fate through a translator before blurting out his shock at the length of his sentence.
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Ex-secretary Susan, originally of Wellingborough, Northants., said she only knew her husband’s business associates socially and never accompanied him when he negotiated ‘fruit sales’.
Roger, originally from Kent, and mum-of-three Susan, both served prison sentences in Norway after being convicted in 2010 for trafficking 240 kilos of cannabis resin.
Clarke said he got into drugs-running to clear debts and was made to do more with his wife as cover after being threatened with violence by gangster paymasters if he stopped.
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