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’

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 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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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 : ‘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.’

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.