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A former British boxing champion who fled on the run to Ireland, Thailand and Mexico in a bid to avoid drug charges has been jailed for six years.
Lennox Clarke, 33, from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, was caught by police officers supplying a known drug dealer with narcotics to be resold on to paying customers.
Clarke, a former British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion who has a previous conviction for supplying Class B drugs from 2012, was spotted meeting with Ben Goff, from Cheltenham, no less that 12 times in 2023.
After observing one of their ‘clandestine’ meetings officers swooped in and arrested Goff, but Clarke went on the run and evaded justice for months.
Initially spending time in local hotels, he eventually travelled through Wales and onto Ireland, before spending time in countries around the world including Thailand and Mexico.
He was eventually arrested after returning to the UK.
Clarke made his debut in the British boxing scene in November 2013 in Walsall with a second-round technical knockout victory against James Child.
After racing to a 6-0 victory count, he took his first title in 2015, the British Masters Bronze super-middleweight.
Lennox Clarke, 33, from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, was caught by police officers supplying a known drug dealer with narcotics to be resold on to paying customers
Clarke is a former British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion who has a previous conviction for supplying Class B drugs from 2012
A judge told Clarke he had not learned the lesson from his past conviction, and sentenced him to six years and four months in prison
He went on to take the IBO Continental super-middlewight title in 2017, but his flawless record came to an end when he challenged for the British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles in 2019.
He lost to Lerrone Richards on points and ended his career soon afterwards, with a scoresheet of 20 wins, one draw and two losses 2022.
A year later he was seen returning to his previous ways and meeting Goff to supply him with drugs.
A judge told Clarke he had not learned the lesson from his past conviction, and sentenced him to six years and four months in prison.
Det Insp Phillips said the force first started hearing reports of drug activity in Cheltenham in autumn 2023.
He said: ‘That investigation led us to Ben Goff, an individual who had just moved back to Gloucestershire, and through him we made the link to Lennox Clarke.
‘Just after Goff got arrested, Clarke decided to go on the run for a number of months, initially staying in local hotels for a couple of nights, we think, trying to understand whether the police were coming for him,’ Det Insp Phillips said.
‘Then, he went out through Wales to Ireland, and spent some time on the run in Thailand, Mexico and other places until he returned to the UK and was arrested.’
He added he hoped the sentencing would reassure the community and encourage them to come forward with any concerns about drug dealing in their area.
Clarke will serve his sentence less 317 days spent under curfew.
