Three men who were involved in a conspiracy to smuggle migrants in boats that kept breaking down across the English Channel have been jailed for a combined total of 14 years.
Freddy Lawrence, 57, Keith Baigent, 63, and Paul Giglia, 64, played “significant roles” in trafficking people to the UK following several failed attempts during a 10-day period in August 2018.
Lawrence and Baigent took part in buying a boat called the Sorel Light for £30,000 in July of that year, which was used to try to carry out the crossings with Baigent registering the vessel under his own name.
But Canterbury Crown Court heard that it had to be towed back across the Channel, including for a steering malfunction, forcing them to hire another boat called the Piscator.
That boat also had to be towed back to Dover marina on another failed attempt to cross the Channel to pick up migrants.
The court heard on August 30, 2018, the Sorel Light was intercepted by French authorities as it tried to pick up 12 Vietnamese migrants on a beach near Wimereux, south of Calais.
The three defendants were not on the boat but other co-conspirators on board were arrested and prosecuted in France.
Lawrence was described as the “centre of the conspiracy” driven by financial reward and was in contact with co-conspirators throughout the attempted enterprise.
He is currently serving time in prison for drug dealing and money laundering and was sentenced to seven and a half years on Friday.
Judge Edmund Fowler also sentenced Baigent to three years and nine months, and Giglia to three years and four months.
