Two men who piloted small boats have become the first offenders to be sentenced for a new offence of endangering others during a Channel crossing.
Afghan national Mohammad Tajik, 32, and Sudanese national Alnour Ali, 26, were at Canterbury Crown Court for two years and 27 months respectively on Wednesday.
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 aides, are overcrowded and those on board are not adequately equipped with safety equipment.”
Endangering others during a journey by sea to the UK is a new 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 Canterbury Crown Court on April 21.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the 32-year-old abandoned the dinghy he was driving across the English Channel and its passengers when a rescue ship arrived on January 17.
The boat was overcrowded and some passengers were not wearing life jackets during the attempted crossing in poor weather conditions, the CPS said.
Elsewhere, Ali admitted the charge of endangering others during a sea crossing on April 9 at the same court last month.
That day two men and two women drowned after being swept away by strong currents while trying to climb on to a dinghy at Equihen-Plage, near Boulogne-sur-Mer in France.
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.
Prosecutor Daniel Bunting said Tajik had been: “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.”
He added the Crown’s case against him was in relation to the conditions, the time of year being very cold in January.
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 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.
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.”
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 separately 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.