Brit drug mule, 79, who smuggled £1m cocaine jets off to Spain after wife died behind bars

A British pensioner jailed for smuggling £1 million worth of cocaine into Europe has been released from prison and has already headed to Spain – years after his wife died behind bars while serving the same sentence.

Roger Clarke, 79, was extradited to the UK from Portugal in 2021 after he and his wife Susan were convicted of trafficking cocaine from the Caribbean. Just days before he was brought back to Britain, Susan, 72, died from cancer in a prison cell in Lisbon.

Now, the convicted drug mule has resurfaced on Spain’s Costa Blanca, posting on Facebook that he had travelled to Rojales in Alicante province – just a short drive from Guardamar del Segura, where the couple once lived before their arrest.

A source said: “Roger spent a long time in jail and it’s taken its toll. But the fact he’s free and claiming he’s jetting to Spain on holiday is staggering. You’d think he’d keep a low profile.”

Clarke and his wife were arrested aboard the Marco Polo cruise ship after it docked in Lisbon in December 2018. Portuguese authorities discovered around £1 million worth of cocaine concealed inside the lining of a suitcase they had brought from the Caribbean.

The couple were each sentenced to eight years in prison.

In 2024, while on day release from HMP Standford Hill in Kent, Clarke insisted he had been wrongly kept behind bars beyond the halfway point of his sentence and even claimed he was considering a human rights compensation claim worth almost £60,000.

Speaking to the Mirror at the time, he maintained he had no idea cocaine was hidden inside the luggage.

“A friend asked me to carry a suitcase back from the Caribbean,” he said. “We had done it for them before and were searched four times but there was never anything to find.”

“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.”

He added: “I can understand why people don’t believe me. Sue knew nothing. I blame myself, I should have checked. I didn’t. But I trusted these people.”

Clarke repeatedly blamed himself for the events that led to his wife’s death in prison.

“My stupidity, that’s what caused this,” he said. “People say, ‘Do you want revenge?’ What’s the point? It won’t bring my Susan back.”

Susan Clarke died aged 72 after developing cancer while imprisoned at EP Tirso prison in Portugal.

Roger has previously claimed authorities demanded £35,000 to repatriate her body to Britain, forcing him instead to arrange a cremation because he could only afford £1,500.

He also said he had been unable to attend her funeral.

“Being without Susan is so difficult,” he said. “I wasn’t able to go to her funeral. All I want now is to hold a memorial service.”

The couple’s cocaine conviction was not their first drugs offence.

Court documents show they had previously been jailed in Norway for acting as couriers for an organised criminal group that imported cannabis worth around £1 million over a 15-month period.

After their arrest in Oslo in 2004, the pair fled while on bail, returned to Britain, changed their names and moved into sheltered accommodation.

They were eventually traced after Clarke appeared in a local newspaper photograph, leading to their arrest and extradition to Norway in 2011, where both served prison sentences.

Following his release from prison in the UK, Clarke appears to have returned to one of the places he once called home, with social media posts suggesting he is now enjoying the Spanish sunshine on the Costa Blanca.