Olive farmer helped 200 migrants cross border

A French olive farmer convicted of helping illegal migrants slip across the border from Italy has been given a four-month suspended jail sentence

The Aix-en-provence Court of Appeal yesterday found Cédric Herrou guilty of “aiding illegal immigration” after he accommodated migrants in a disused holiday camp, then helped them travel and stay in France.

He is said to have helped about 200 migrants, mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, to cross into France from Italy.

Herrou said he felt “the court wasn’t even listening” to him.