Channel security fears as ex-judo star faces people smuggling charge
MINISTERS have been accused of ignoring stark warnings about the vulnerability of Britain’s small ports amid mounting concern over the country’s maritime security.
Four reports, the most recent published just last week, warned that people smugglers could exploit lax security around the 7,000 miles of UK coastline. But ministers downplayed the risks, insisting the problem was not a significant priority.
The revelation comes as two British men appeared in court charged in connection with a plot to smuggle illegal immigrants across the Channel.
Robert Stilwell, 33, a former judo champion who represented Great Britain and has held European and Commonwealth titles, was charged alongside 35-year-old Mark Stribling after 18 Albanians were rescued from a sinking boat off the Kent coast early on Sunday. The two men, who were also on board the inflatable craft, were remanded in custody after making a brief appearance at Medway magistrates’ court in Kent.
John Vine, the former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration who stepped down in 2014, said lives could be lost due to an increase in migrant crossings this summer. He said he had twice raised concerns about security at smaller ports while in post but feared the issue “wasn’t a major priority”.
Yesterday, the general secretary of the Immigration Services Union also warned that Britain faced its biggest onslaught of people smugglers. “This was an inevitable progression, once you saw the floods of people coming up from North Africa through Turkey into southern Europe and making their way through Europe,” said Lucy Moreton.
She said tighter security at the Channel Tunnel and ports meant migrants were pushed elsewhere, including into small boats. “The problem with trying to cross the Channel in small inflatables is that this is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and these small vessels cannot be seen by a big vessel before it runs them over,” she said.
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has responded to the threat of mass seaborne migration by ordering a new fleet of patrol boats. The vessels will be sent to the Channel to intercept attempts to smuggle dangerous weapons, drugs and migrants into the country. It is expected that around half a dozen will be deployed – though they are unlikely to be in place before the EU referendum on June 23.
In a boost for The Daily Telegraph’s border security campaign, Mrs May is also creating three permanent command centres in Cornwall, the Thames Estuary and the Humber.
From today, border officials will also be able to board suspicious boats while they are on the water and detain suspects rather than having to wait for them to dock before intervening.
Analysis out today from Migration Watch, the think tank, claims almost half a million refugees who have arrived in the EU during the migration crisis will move to Britain by 2020.
Iain Duncan Smith, the Eurosceptic former work and pensions secretary, said migrant workers were forcing down wages in Britain, but the Remain campaign dismissed the report’s estimates as “false”.
MPs from across the political divide called on the Home Office to plug the gap left by having just two of the Border Force’s five cutters deployed in the Channel. Tim Loughton, the former Tory minister, said the cutter currently stationed in the Mediterranean should return to UK waters, while Keith Vaz, who chairs the home affairs committee, said the Royal Navy should offer extra ships to help defeat smugglers.
Mr Stilwell, who describes himself as self-employed, holds a judo black belt and has competed in tournaments around the world.
Speaking outside the family home in Dartford, his father said: “I haven’t seen him for three or four days. He spends most of his time living in London with his girlfriend. He comes and goes occasionally and I don’t know what he gets up to. We are trying to work out what has gone on.”
At his London address, a woman who claimed to be his girlfriend, said: “I’ve not seen him since Wednesday – I’ve been in tears thinking something bad had happened to him. He used to do judo but he’s packed it in now.”
Mr Stribling, who is a self-employed builder, is from the village of Farningham, near Dartford in Kent.
Both men are due to appear before Maidstone Crown Court on June 27.
The Coastguard, RNLI and the Border Force were all involved in the rescue after the boat carrying the migrants began taking on water as it made for the coastal town of Dymchurch in Kent.