Callous people smugglers are the lowest of the low

THEY wore life jackets. Their passengers did not. This tells you all you need to know about the wickedness of former judo champion Robert Stilwell and Mark Stribling who have been jailed for attempting to smuggle Albanians across the Channel in an overcrowded inflatable boat last May.

They ran out of petrol and had been drifting more than a mile out to sea for three hours when they were all rescued by the coastguard.

Stilwell was jailed for four years and four months while Stribling received four years and eight months. This is not long enough, especially as most prisoners only serve half their allotted sentence.

Meanwhile at Lewes Crown Court, sailor Stephen Jackson was jailed for four years and nine months for smuggling 17 Albanians into Chichester. Again not long enough.

Europe’s refugee crisis would not be nearly so severe if it was not for the criminal activity of people smugglers who are only in it for the money. They have no scruples about their hapless passengers’ safety and rely on coastguards or (in the Mediterranean) navy vessels to effect rescues.

The lure of easy money taken from gullible people means that there will be many other Stilwells, Striblings and Jacksons. Their sentences should have been far longer, both to punish them and to set an example which might deter similarly minded criminals.