Four years for smugglers ‘too lenient’
A FORMER border chief dismissed jail terms for two British people smugglers as “too lenient” last night.
Robert Stilwell and Mark Stribling were each given more than four years for trying to bring 18 Albanian migrants into the UK by boat.
The criminals said they stood to pocket £2,000 each ferrying the human cargo illegally across the Channel from Calais under the cover of darkness.
But a judge said they stood to gain much more. The migrants each paid £5,000 for the crossing meaning it was worth £90,000 to the gang.
Yesterday the pair were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court for a “callous operation motivated by greed” after the migrants were plucked from the sea off Dymchurch, Kent, on May 29.
His Honour Judge Jeremy Carey told them: “I don’t accept the assertion about the reward you stood to make.
“It is inconceivable, since you were too well-versed in criminal activity, that you would accept such a low return.”
Former Dover-based chief immigration officer John Linehan said: “This is not a deterrent. They will be out in two years – it’s a joke to them. When you think 14 years was the maximum sentence others might look at this and think it may well be worth a pop.
“People smuggling is huge and it’s an increasing problem. As much as we think we’ve got a handle on it we haven’t. We can’t protect our borders.”
The Albanians had travelled from Greece, arriving in northern France where they paid for the crossing. It is not clear if they stayed in the Jungle camp in Calais, now home to 7,000 migrants, but the rigid hull inflatable boat was launched close by.
The court heard how 15 men, a woman and two children waded into the sea up to their necks to clamber on to the boat on May 28. Stilwell and Stribling wore waterproofs and lifejackets but the migrants had neither. They were told the crossing would take an hour but they were drifting in rough seas for three hours.
The court heard how the boat set off at speed but stopped. It is thought the battery failed and the vessel started to flood, leaving its panicked passengers to bail out by hand.
One claimed he was told the boat would be punctured with scissors and the woman thrown overboard if emergency services were called.
Some of the migrants called friends and family. A coastguard helicopter, two lifeboats and Border Force cutter HMC Valiant were dispatched.
The rescued migrants were through” because of sea spray.
Stilwell, 33 – a former British judo champion from Dartford, Kent, who won a Commonwealth gold medal in 2000 – and Stribling, 35, of Farningham, Kent, who both have previous convictions, admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Stribling was jailed for four years and eight months and Stilwell for four years four months. “wet