DRIVER SMUGGLED WOMEN IN HOLDALL

50-YEAR-OLD JAILED AFTER BORDER STAFF FOUND THREE PEOPLE HIDDEN IN BAG AND FOOTWELL AS SHE ATTEMPTED TO DRIVE THEM INTO UK

A WOMAN has been jailed for people smuggling after two women and a man were found hiding in the boot and passenger footwell of her car as she attempted to drive them into the UK, the Home Office has said.

Officers discovered the stowaways – two of who were unresponsive and had to be rushed to hospital – after stopping Wendy Thomas’ car at the UK border controls at the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, France on October 9, 2016.

The 50-year-old, of Horle Close, Cardiff Bay, who pleaded guilty to one count of assisting illegal immigration, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison at Blackfriars Crown Court on Thursday.

Releasing the details of the case yesterday, the Home Office said Thomas’ co-conspirators Adriano Bettoja-Allen, 37, and his wife Jeanette, 49, were also sentenced for their parts in two separate “carefully planned” attempts to smuggle people into the UK.

Investigation into the case started after the arrest of Dawood Shahbeik, a British national, at St Pancras International station when he arrived on the Eurostar from Calais on October 2, 2016.

Shahbeik’s mobile phone was found to contain text messages referring to an individual who had been transported to a house in Newport, and a search of his luggage revealed a damaged Iranian passport and a large amount of cash, a Home Office spokeswoman said.

Thomas’ arrest happened a week after Shahbeik’s and text messages on both their phones showed they had been in regular contact with BettojaAllen, of Park Square, Newport.

David Fairclough, assistant director from Immigration Enforcement’s