Child charged with endangering others during Channel crossing

• A child has been charged with endangering others during a small boat Channel crossing to the UK, under a controversial new law.
• The boy, who cannot be identified, is currently in the care of the local authority after arriving in the UK earlier this year and was assessed to be under 18.
• The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) argued the prosecution was in the public interest due to the “seriousness of the offence” and to deter others from using young people to pilot boats.
• The new offence, part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, carries a maximum sentence of five years for an adult, but only a referral order is available for a child.
• The case will be remitted to the youth court, after a judge questioned the CPS's decision to pursue the prosecution of a child in the Crown Court.

IN FULL

Boy charged with endangering lives of migrants in Channel crossing under controversial new law