Taxi controller James Barrett has gone on hunger strike after he was jailed for smuggling £30,000 worth of cocaine in his shoes.

His fiance, Sherrie Chubb, 26, of Druce Way, Blackbird Leys, Oxford, said her husband-to-be had refused all solids since he was sentenced to five years in prison last Tuesday.

She claims he is innocent and has been mistreated since being locked up at Highdown Prison in Surrey.

Dad-of-three Barrett, 45, of Slade Close, Oxford, was stopped and searched by customs officers at Gatwick Airport after returning from a holiday in Jamaica in March last year.

Officers found more than half-a-kilo of cocaine wrapped in cling film inside the soles of his shoes.

Barrett, whose father died just days before his trial began, denied smuggling but was found guilty by a jury at Croydon Crown Court. He claimed he bought the shoes at a Jamaican market and did not know they contained drugs.

Single mum Ms Chubb claimed Barrett, who suffers from osteoporosis, had been refused prescribed medication for chronic back pain since arriving in jail.

She told the Oxford Mail: "He was set-up and is still protesting his innocence. He has been refusing solids since Tuesday.

"When I saw him he was freezing cold and he looked very poorly, he has not been able to sleep because of the pain. The way he has been treated is terrible."

She said Barrett wanted to be transferred to Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, to be closer to his family.

Keith Saunders, operations governor at Highdown Prison, said it was likely that Barrett would be transferred to a prison closer to Oxford in the next few weeks.

He added: "I have arranged for a doctor to see him again to give a further opinion on what sort of treatment he should have.

"I will do everything I can regarding his health care."

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