An elderly man who was jailed for smuggling £1 million worth of cocaine, along with his late wife, is being transferred to a maximum security prison. Roger Clarke, 77, had previously been held at HMP Stamford Hill but was upgraded after expressing concerns about prison authorities violating his human rights and demanding £60,000 in compensation.
Roger and his wife Sue Clarke were sentenced to eight years in prison after Portuguese police discovered 20lbs of Class A drugs in their suitcase in 2018. Sue passed away in jail in 2021, and Roger was subsequently deported to the UK to serve the remainder of his sentence. However, Roger believes that he should have been released in December 2022, as it marked the halfway point of his eight-year term. He claims that he has been forced to serve an additional five and a half years.
According to sources, Roger’s complaints about a “human rights breach” did not sit well with officials and violated the terms of his temporary release, resulting in his return to a closed prison. Roger was originally scheduled for release in May, but now that possibility seems unlikely.
In HMP Standford Hill, Roger was allowed to leave the prison for two days each month. While serving time in a Portuguese prison, he lived among 10 murderers and rapists and spent his days watching movies and reading Martina Cole novels. The prison was a place of violence, where Roger was once struck by a prison officer for refusing to sign a Portuguese document. He described the experience as terrifying, as he lost a significant amount of weight and had very little to occupy his time.
Despite his history of involvement in drug trafficking across Europe, Roger maintains his innocence and is seeking £60,000 in compensation. The couple, who are from Chatham, Kent, were arrested in Lisbon after friends allegedly asked Roger to transport a suitcase. Although Roger claims to have been searched four times during their travels, no illicit substances were ever discovered. The couple’s arrest in 2018 came eight years after they were caught smuggling 240kg of cannabis into Norway. Police believe that they utilized four cruises over the course of two years as a cover, earning up to £26,500 per trip.
F5 Magazine reached out to the Ministry of Justice for comment on the matter.
Source link: F5mag.com