Fair Trials wants inquiry into drugs lorry storage
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• There are calls for an inquiry into the case of a British lorry driver arrested in Spain on drugs charges, who was found to be using a lorry belonging to another driver who had already been jailed for the same offence.
Stephen Jakobi, director of legal pressure group Fair Trials Abroad, is to write to Roy Clarke's MP, Sir Archie Hamilton, asking him to demand why the owner-driver "ended up paying for the storage of his vehicle while it was being used by a drugs gang".
Jakobi says: "There seems to be extraordinary corruption going on here, there needs to be an inquiry."
The outburst follows last week's release of lorry driver John Swain after he was cleared of drugs charges. He had spent more than two years in a jail near Madrid while his case came to trial.
Jakobi says the state prosecutor told the court that when Swain was arrested in August 1995 with 481kg of cannabis in his lorry, he had been employed to pick up Clarke's vehicle.
Clarke, a Surrey-based ownerdriver, was released from prison in Malaga In October 1995 after being cleared of similar charges. He was charged for his vehicle's storage in Spain during his time in prison.
Jakobi says Swain's case underlines yet again the need for European Union countries to reach an agreement which would allow individuals under criminal investigation to return home on bail.