British pensioner jailed for smuggling £1m of cocaine on cruise has ‘rats as big as rabbits’ in cell

A 72-year-old drug smuggler who had £1million of cocaine on a cruise has revealed he shares a Portuguese cell with ‘rats as big as rabbits’.

Roger Clarke has pleaded with Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help secure his release from the notorious EP Lisboa jail.

Three judges convicted retired chef Clarke and his ex-secretary wife Sue, 71, of drugs trafficking on a Caribbean liner after a one-day trial last month.

They were told they will serve their eight-year sentences in Portugal instead of being kicked out of the country and sent back to Britain.

Now Clarke has complained for the first time about the harsh conditions in the jail, and claimed he lost six-stone and had a suspected heart attack.

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The officers headed straight for cabin 469, waking its occupants, pensioners Roger and Sue Clarke (pictured) 

Police pictures (right and left) show the Clarke’s suitcases being taken apart to show the hidden cocaine in the couple’s cabin on the cruise ship

Now Clarke has complained for the first time about the harsh conditions in EP Lisboa jail (pictured), and claimed he lost six-stone and had a suspected heart attack

He also said he and his wife were ‘innocent’ and he has sent a letter to Mr Johnson begging him to look into the couple’s case.

Clarke told the Sunday Mirror: ‘The conditions here are really disgusting, no air conditioning, no heating and in many cells not even any lighting.

‘I’ve been a little lucky as I’m now on F wing which has single cells with a shower and toilet, mind you it’s pot luck if and when you get hot water.

‘Rats are a menace, some are as large as rabbits, cockroaches by the millions and all sorts of other horrible bugs.’

He added: ‘F wing is where anyone from another country, such as embassy people, are shown which is why it’s kept a lot cleaner than other wings.’

Cocaine worth around £1million was discovered by police in the lining (pictured above) of suitcases Mr Clarke had taken on a luxury cruise from the Caribbean 

Portuguese police acting on a tip-off from Britain’s NCA discovered 9lbs of cocaine hidden inside the lining of four suitcases Clarke had taken from the island of St Lucia

Clarke wants to be moved to the mixed-sex Funchal Prison on the island of Madeira with Sue, who is currently in Lisbon’s Tires Women’s Prison.

The pair, originally from Kent but who lived in Guardamar, Spain, were arrested on board cruise liner Marco Polo on December 4, 2018.

Portuguese police acted on a tip-off from Britain’s National Crime Agency and found 9lbs of cocaine hidden inside the lining of four suitcases Clarke had been handed at St Lucia.

 Sue is currently serving her eight-year sentence in Lisbon’s Tires Women’s Prison (pictured)

But Clarke wants them to both be moved to the mixed-sex Funchal Prison on the island of Madeira (pictured)

Sue and Roger Clarke’s Villa in Guardamar, Spain, where they were the life and soul of local bars and members of a golf club before their arrest and conviction for drug trafficking 

Clarke, from Bromley, Kent, claimed after his arrest a mysterious UK-based Jamaican businessman called Lee had asked him to negotiate the exotic fruit sales during cruise ship stopovers in the Caribbean and bring back the suitcases ‘as a sideline’ [File photo]

idea the cocaine was hidden in the bags.

After being sentenced, Clark held hands with his wife and whispered: ‘Jesus Christ, I was not expecting more than four years. I’ll be 80 when all this is over.’

Clarke told the court last month he was taking the suitcases back to the UK for a friend called Lee who had promised to pay him £800 and bragged he could sell them for a massive profit at upmarket stores such as Harrods.

He said UK-based Jamaican businessman ‘Lee’ and another associate called Dee, who he named in court as George Wilmot, had asked him to help negotiate the import of exotic fruit during Caribbean cruise stopovers and he brought the suitcases back for them as a sideline.

State prosecutor Manuela Brito rubbished his court claim he had been ‘betrayed’ by people he trusted and insisted the Brits were drug mules who used the four cruises they took to South America in two years as a front for their crimes.

And she questioned how they could pay for the cruises costing around £18,000 when they survived on a joint monthly pension of £1,150 from which the couple had to pay rent of £445.

Clarke said he fears for his health in jail after having stents fitted in his heart in 2010. 

He said he had been taken to hospital with a suspected heart attack while in lock up, but it was just to do with his chest muscles caused by weight loss.

It is understood Sue works as a seamstress in Lisbon’s Tires Prison, making toys.

She is believed to be sharing a cell with four other convicts.