Ex-England cricket star Chris Lewis 'smuggled £200,000 of cocaine into Gatwick'

In recent years both Heathrow and Gatwick Airports have been recognised as 'drugs hubs' used by Caribbean smugglers. It is estimated that almost half the cocaine sold in Britain comes from Jamaica.

Former England cricketer Chris Lewis appeared in court yesterday charged with trying to smuggle £200,000-worth of cocaine hidden in tins of fruit into Gatwick. 

Lewis, 40, played 32 tests and 53 one-day internationals as an all rounder in the Nineties and was once hailed as an heir to Ian Botham. 

He was arrested on Monday morning with basketball player Chad Kirnon, 26, after Border Agency staff allegedly found nearly 9lb of the drug in their luggage. 

The cocaine, apparently in liquid form, was allegedly discovered in a routine search just after they arrived at 6am on a Virgin flight from St Lucia in the Caribbean. 

Friends spoke of their shock at his appearance yesterday at Crawley Magistrates' Court in West Sussex, where the two were remanded in custody until next week. 

Lewis said nothing during the short hearing and was refused bail by chairman Elaine Richards due to the 'nature and seriousness' of the alleged offence and because such a 'large quantity' of the drug was said to be involved there was a risk Lewis might abscond if bailed. 

The alleged large quantity of drugs also suggested a potential link with 'international crime'. 

Lewis, who was born in Guyana, South America, was one of several all-rounders brought in to revitalise the struggling England team in the Nineties. 

But having failed to fulfil his potential, he drifted through the county game in a career that was plagued by injury. 

Yesterday it emerged that he had spent the last few years living in a housing association flat in North London after trying to resurrect his career last summer by rejoining Surrey to play Twenty20 cricket. 

Lewis - who came to Britain at ten - claimed 93 wickets during his England Test career and finished with a Test batting average of 23. 

He retired from county cricket in 2000 because of a persistent hip injury after spells with Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Surrey. 

Nadeem Shahid, 39, a former Surrey colleague and now coach at the county club, said: 'Chris played for us in the summer and was his normal self. 

'His work ethic was top drawer and he was determined to do well. 

'I did not feel he had any problems like money worries. He was always professional. This has come as a complete shock.'



Lewis believed he was 'driven out' of county cricket after alleging that three England team-mates had taken bribes to throw matches.

The claim was never substantiated and he was later jeered by crowds and snubbed by players before ending his career at just 32.

After drifting out of the first-class game he spent several years playing league cricket and had recently been coaching schoolchildren.

Yesterday Cherise Kirnon, 23, the sister of Lewis's co-defendant, told of her 'complete shock' over the charges faced by her brother.

Speaking from the flat in Islington, North London, where Kirnon lives with his mother Carol and 14-year- old brother Charles, she added: 'Chad just suddenly announced about ten days ago that something had come up and he was flying to the Caribbean.

'He did not say what he would be doing there or exactly where he was going. I did not know when he was due back. I cannot believe what has happened.'

Miss Kirnon, who came to Britain with her brother and their family from the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean, added that Kirnon did 'not even smoke' and that she did not know Chris Lewis.

She said: 'Chad used to play basketball for the London Towers team. He has been playing for a Somalian team recently.

'He is unemployed at the moment and was planning to do a course to become a plumber. But that was going to cost about £10,000 and he did not have that sort of money.'

Lewis and Kirnon will appear at Mid Sussex Magistrates' Court in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, via video link next Wednesday. continues here

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