Sailor jailed for sneaking 17 into UK is wanted over Spanish murder
A BRITISH yachtsman who is wanted for questioning over the alleged murder of a mother was jailed yesterday for four years after being caught smuggling 17 Albanians into an exclusive Sussex marina.
Stephen Jackson, 51, was spotted in his catamaran as he neared the Isle of Wight.
Border officials ran a check on him and discovered he was wanted on a European arrest warrant over the disappearance of expat Scot Lisa Brown from her Spanish home nine months ago.
But when police and border officials swooped as he docked into Chichester Marina in West Sussex on May 23 they were stunned to learn Jackson had 17 Albanians below the deck of his ten-metrelong vessel, who had paid up to £7,000 for the eight-hour passage from Cherbourg.
Sentencing him yesterday to four years and nine months at Lewes Crown Court, Judge Guy Anthony told Jackson this was one of the most serious cases of people smuggling.
Jackson had admitted a single count of assisting unlawful immigration at an earlier hearing. All 17 of the Albanians have since been deported.
He is now due to appear before Westminster Magistrates next month for a hearing relating to his extradition. He will serve his sentence in the UK before facing questioning in Spain. Police there want to question him over his links to Miss Brown’s on/off boyfriend Simon Corner who has been arrested in connection with her murder.
Following her disappearance, a yacht Jackson owns was impounded in the Canary Islands amid fears it was used to dispose of Miss Brown’s body.
Miss Brown, 32, from Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, vanished from her home in Guadiaro, near Gibraltar and the upmarket Spanish port of Sotogrande, on November 4. Her body has still not been recovered.
Sources in the UK said she went missing after a bust-up with Corner, 33, who was arrested in Copenhagen, Denmark, after fleeing police.