|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Cleaner Marks
Gavin Allen South Wales Echo
Friday 13 Oct 2006 Howard Marks has turned from world-wanted drug runner to 'an established part of the anti-establishment' but straight life has by no means been easy. One presumes having the US Drug Enforcement Agency chasing your 43 aliases across international borders is less stressful than, say, a cameo as the devil in Dirty Sanchez The Movie but the time since has been difficult in different ways. This month Marks released Senor Nice, the follow-up to his hugely successful autobiography Mr Nice. But in May this year his ex-wife Judy wrote her own book, Mr Nice & Mrs Marks: Adventures With Howard, in which she described how their fugitive lifestyle impacted on their marriage and children, Patrick, 19, Amber, 28, and Francesca, 25. 'I read it before it came out because the legal editor wanted to make sure I wouldn't sue them,' he laughed when I asked him what he thought of it. 'It's very hard for me to have a judgement on it, given the author - pass.' After decades on the run, the couple were finally arrested in 1988, in front of their children, and on October 18, 1990, Dennis Howard Marks was sentenced to 25 years in prison, of which he served seven; Judy served two years. He was released from Terre Haute, America's toughest penitentiary, on April 9, 1995, knowing things had changed at home. 'When you are in prison part of surviving that experience is learning to kill emotions you have for people because you aren't able to maintain those relationships,' he told me, sitting back in a chair at his office in Soho. 'I found it impossible to do that with my parents and my children but not with my wife and I found that I fell out of love with her. 'When I was in prison my character changed quite a lot and so did hers, so we were two very different people when we came back to each other. 'I tried to persevere for the family unit for as long as I could. 'But for me, staying in the marriage would have been like kicking away my freedom that had been returned to me. 'We all still get along, no problems with the children at all, but when you get divorced it's never because you are getting along too well, is it?' Marks has made a fresh start and although he still spends time in Kenfig Hill, Bridgend, where his sister owns the long-time family home, he currently lives in Leeds with his new partner whom he met when he moved to the city to be close to his mother in the last months before she died. Oxford-educated Marks, 61, remains very busy, still prominent in the movement to legalise cannabis but currently busy promoting his new book with the one-man show he brings to The Glee Club on Sunday night. 'It's me reading extracts from my book but with some new material and a Q&A session - ask me anything.' Just how open can he be about his past though? Surely he is still keeping a million secrets from his former life? 'The people I know who have broken the law and are breaking the law have nothing to fear from me. 'I'm quite well practiced in keeping my mouth shut.' Marks still excels in hinting about undiscovered misdeeds, perhaps because his outlaw myth propels his tamer new career. Does he miss the excitement of the good/bad old days? 'Sometimes this can be boring but it's the career I have chosen.' http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!