OAP caught with £1m cocaine after carrying suitcase for pal noticed spouse die in jail

A pensioner who was caught with £1m value of cocaine has damaged his silence and revealed his greatest remorse.

Roger Clarke, 77, insists he was arrange over a cocaine smuggling plot that landed him and his spouse Susan in jail. However, he solely blames himself for the state of affairs.

Earlier this week, Clarke was seen on British soil for the primary time since being transferred from a Portuguese jail to a UK one in 2021. This occurred simply days after his spouse Susan handed away in jail, The Mirror studies.

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His claims of innocence might shock many because the couple had been beforehand jailed in Norway for drug smuggling. But Clarke believed he ought to have been launched in December 2022 after serving half of his eight-year sentence for smuggling £1million value of cocaine on a cruise ship from St Lucia to Europe together with his spouse.

He will not be launched till May and is even planning to assert almost £60,000 for “false imprisonment”. Clarke said: “People say, ‘Do you want revenge?’ What’s the point? It won’t bring my Susan back. My stupidity, that’s what caused this.”

He expressed his need to be freed so he can maintain a correct memorial for Susan and mend a rift together with his household. The couple had been arrested on the Marco Polo cruise liner because it sailed into Lisbon in December 2018. Speaking to the Mirror in a Morrisons grocery store cafe, he said: “A buddy requested me to hold a suitcase again from the Caribbean. We had finished it for them earlier than and had been searched 4 instances however there was by no means something to seek out.

“When we pulled into Lisbon the police came on and said, ‘Can we take a look in your suitcase?’ I said, ‘Of course you can.’ In the lining was cocaine. I was shocked. I had no idea. It was a brand new suitcase. Whoever did it was very clever because you couldn’t see the seams or anything.

“I can perceive why folks do not imagine me. Sue knew nothing. I blame myself, I ought to have checked. I did not. But I trusted these folks.”

Clarke, who has serious health issues and needs a pacemaker, claimed he is owed £107 a day for being in prison “unfairly”, however the Ministry of Justice stated that they do not comment on individual cases.

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