Two small boat pilots who steered overcrowded craft have been jailed, becoming the first people sentenced for a new offence of endangering others during a Channel crossing.
Afghan national Mohammad Tajik, 32, was sentenced to two years in prison at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday over a dangerous journey on January 17.
At the same time, Sudanese national Alnour Ali, 26, was sentenced to 27 months for a crossing on April 9.
Sentencing them, Judge Simon James said: “The inherent dangers of seeking to navigate one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world in a vessel which was never designed to undertake such a journey are obvious.
“However, the risk of death and serious injury are significantly increased when boats have no navigational aids, are overcrowded, and those on board are not adequately equipped with safety equipment.”
Endangering others during a journey by sea to the UK is an offence that came into force in January as part of new border security legislation.
Tajik was the first to be convicted under the new law, having pleaded guilty at the same court on April 21.
Prosecutor Daniel Bunting said: “He was piloting and let go of the tiller with consequences no one was in control.
“He had no experience or knowledge of piloting a boat, he was asking others to look on YouTube for assistance.”
Following his sentence, Crown Prosecution Service’s Katie Quincey added he let go to “hide” among the other 70 passengers on board, including a toddler, as a rescue boat approached.
Of Tajik’s crossing, footage was shown to court of the boat overcrowded with people sitting around the edge “which did not appear to be a safe way of travelling”, Mr Bunting said.
He added the Crown’s case against him was in relation to the conditions, the time of year being very cold in January.
In a police interview, Tajik accepted piloting the boat but he did so to stop it going round in circles shortly before the interception around 12.15pm, the court heard.
Mr Bunting told the court that in both cases, there was a lack of safety equipment expected for such a crossing.
For Ali, drone footage was played in court of the boat with 74 people on board, where Ali is seen driving while wearing a pink hat.
Passengers are seen straddling the side of the boat, with some legs dangling in the water.
A French boat comes up alongside the dinghy and hands out life-jackets, at which point Mr Bunting said Ali had the opportunity to stop.
Mr Bunting said: “The Crown say clear and obvious risk being heavily overcrowded that a wave or gust of wind could have capsized the boat.”
Judge James said that the video shows just how dangerous crossings are, with 74 people packed into “every inch of available space” and it was “merely by luck and good fortune” those on board were rescued.
The boat left the French coast at 7.24am and was intercepted several hours later at just past 10am.
It was the same day that seperately two men and two women drowned in the Channel.
Ali’s charge was previously referenced by the National Crime Agency in relation to this and subsequently reported by the press, the court heard.
Ali’s barrister, Paul Hogben, said the press release caused a “great deal of public hostility” which has had a “punitive effect” on Ali, his reputation and “any risk to his safety in the future”.
In court, Judge James made clear Ali is not being sentenced in relation to those four deaths and said misinformation was “unhelpful”.
He said it is “very important to make it absolutely clear you had no knowledge of, let alone responsibility for, others being injured or killed. I am not being invited to sentence you on that basis”.
Barrister Paul Hogben told the court Ali was of good character and was ordered to steer the boat by armed people traffickers when he embarked.
He was born in a village in the Darfur region of Sudan, where he and his parents, three brothers and six sisters were forced to flee their home during the civil war.
“Because of the war in Sudan he has had no contact with family in over a year, he does not know if his parents or siblings are alive or dead,” Mr Hogben said.
“He has not previously attempted to cross the Channel, he was not paid for piloting the boat, and he was ordered to steer the boat by armed people traffickers.”
The court also heard from barrister Niall Doherty, defending Tajik, that the father-of-one left Afghanistan after witnessing the Taliban shoot and kill his father and brother for refusing to put yellow powder in food served to soldiers in their restaurant which they believed would have fatal consequences.
Tajik feared he would also be targeted and fled to seek asylum, first trying in Greece where he was refused, before travelling on to Europe and the UK.
The pair both have submitted claims for asylum since being in the UK, the court heard.
Under the new offence, those who endanger or risk another life at sea could face up to five years in prison, or up to six years if they are in breach of a deportation order.
The charge includes physical or psychological injury and covers journeys by water to the UK from France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Migration minister Mike Tapp said Wednesday’s sentencings were a “direct blow” to the small boat gangs “by tracking down and jailing their pilots”.
“We are using every lever at our disposal to make sure the vile criminals who bring illegal migrants to our shores face justice.”
The Crown Prosecution Service’s national lead for organised immigration crime, Sarah Dineley, told Press Association ahead of the sentencing that the creation of the new offence is a “real sea change” as it fills a gap in legislation so that boat pilots are responsible for the vessel and “all those on board”.
Ms Dineley said the offence has been “pitched on the low side” compared to facilitation, which carries a maximum term of life imprisonment.
But she added: “Obviously we’ll have to wait and see how the case law develops, and the sentences which flow from the other cases, which are currently in the system.”
“We hope that the sentences in these cases will act as a deterrent to others who might be persuaded to get on a small boat, either as a passenger or as a pilot.
“You will go to prison if you are convicted, and that is a very strong message to send out to those who are contemplating a Channel crossing or piloting such a boat.”
However, charity Asylum Matters reacted to the sentencing, saying that it is Government policies putting lives at risk at sea, not “exploited individuals found with their hands on the tiller”.
Head of campaigns Nathan Phillips said doubling down on punishment only creates more danger for those forced into irregular journeys.
