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72-year old British grandmother jailed for smuggling $1.85m worth of cocaine dies an agonising death from breast cancer in a foreign prison
Susan Clarke, a 72-year old retired secretary and grandmother to 8, has died a painful death due to complications from breast cancer following a short visit to 73-year old partner, Roger, who is locked up in a separate prison.
A source described Susan’s death as agonizing as she suffered from pain from the lump in her throat which stopped her speech prior to dying alone in a rat-infested Portuguese prison.
'She was handed a life sentence – left to die in a foreign prison with no loved ones around her', they said.
'Four weeks ago she was given one last visit with Roger. They saw each other through a Perspex window.’
'She was in so much pain. Roger seems to think they had won a battle to come back to the UK too, so he's devastated that she wasn't well enough to make the move.'
In hopes of returning to the UK after winning a legal battle, Susan Clarke’s partner, Roger, is devastated to find his partner lost her own battle. Credit: facebook.com.
The British grandparents, described as ‘drug mules’ by prosecutors, were sentenced to 8 years in prison after police found 9kgs of cocaine worth $1.85m in the linings of four suitcases during their journey on the Marco Polo liner from the Caribbean to Lisbon.
Prosecutors said that the couple made thousands of pounds in two years by smuggling drugs into the UK through cruise trips.
Mrs. Clarke had previously denied the allegations expressing her complaints in a letter sent to a friend of the family.
She wrote: 'It's very hard here, especially with the language difference. I'm in a room with four other women and only one speaks English. It is very cold. There is no heating at all.
'We only get one hot drink a day, with breakfast, then water with lunch and dinner.'
'I can honestly say that we had no idea what was happening until the police in Portugal searched our luggage,’ she added.
However, the couple was previously convicted for smuggling 240kg of cannabis — which the couple thought were exotic fruits — into Norway in 2010.
Referencing the couple’s previous arrest, Mrs. Clarke wrote: 'After what happened before, we would never have done this in a million years.’
'Also, at our age, and having a nice life in Spain, why would we risk everything?'
The couple was previously convicted for smuggling cannabis resin, which they previously thought were exotic fruits, into Norway in 2010. Credit: Solarpix.com.
Since the couple's sentence, Susan had been sharing a small cell with four other women in Lisbon's EP Tires prison.
Susan also told The Mirror that she felt she had been handed 'a death sentence' following her weight loss of 16kgs and abandonment by the UK Foreign Office.
The Foreign Office reported however that they ‘are supporting the family of a British woman who died in Portugal.'
The friend who received the letter recounted Susan as a devoted and loving mother who ran a comfortable home for her first husband and their three children in Cheadle, Cheshire. She also took part in amateur dramatics productions where she was described as ‘mild-mannered’ and ‘not particularly rebellious’.
However, she left her first husband and three kids after meeting Roger in the early 2000s. The couple emigrated to Spain soon afterward.
This article is based on an article written by the Daily Mail Australia.
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