Fourteen-year jail term for migrant traffickers

Starting-point sentence puts exploiting vulnerable people for financial gain on par with rape and murder

Gang leaders who traffic migrants into the UK will face 14 years in jail under new sentencing rules. In its first guidelines for modern slavery offences, the Sentencing Council has put trafficking crimes on a par with rape and murder by recommending the “starting point” punishment. The 14-year sentences will be used against traffickers who exploit “vulnerable people” for “substantial financial gain” or are found to have used violence or sexual threats against them.

GANG leaders who traffic migrants face 14 years in jail under new sentencing rules.

In its first guidelines for modern slavery offences, the Sentencing Council has put trafficking crimes on a par with rape and even murder by recommending the “starting point” punishment. The 14-year sentences will be used against traffickers who exploit “vulnerable people” for “substantial financial gain” or are found to have used violence or sexual threats against them.

The change marks a significant toughening as up to a third of convicted traffickers have previously escaped with prison sentences of under five years, according to a Manchester University analysis of official data.

Organised crime gangs have increasingly moved in to exploit the migrant crisis, leading to a record 11,000 crossing the Channel already this year, up from 8,700 for the whole of last year.

Chris Philp, the immigration minister, said: “Those who target and enslave the vulnerable for personal profit deserve punishments that reflect the inhumanity of their actions.

“These guidelines will ensure that the thugs and gangs found responsible for trading in this misery receive sentences that fit the severity of the crime.”

It comes in advance of immigration proposals from Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, to impose life sentences on those who “facilitate illegal entry to the UK”, increasing the penalty for people smuggling from its current 14 years.

Steve Harvey, a trafficking expert who led Europol’s fight against the international gangs, said: “It is disappointing when you see traffickers and smugglers convicted and sentenced to single-figure jail terms, and even low single figures. It needs a similar approach to other areas of organised crime such as narcotics, kidnapping, serious fraud and serious assaults.”

The guidelines say those who play a “leading role” with the “expectation of substantial or other material advantage” and expose victims to “high risk of death” should, as a “starting point”, face 14 years in jail. The maximum sentence for modern slavery offences is 18 years.

This compares with a “starting point” of 15 years for rape where the attacker uses significant violence and causes severe physical or psychological harm. Fifteen years is also the minimum starting point for murder with a maximum of a full-life term. Life imprisonment is also the maximum for rape.

Tony Smith, former director-general of the Border Force, said only a co-ordinated international effort would disrupt the kingpins behind the smuggling of migrants. “The ones you tend to see getting prosecuted in northern France are not necessarily ‘level three’. They are more level two [the kingpins’ lieutenants],” he said. “Although I would not argue against tougher penalties, the criminal justice system in itself is not a sufficient weapon to deter them.”

Police are also increasingly using modern slavery laws to target county lines gangs where the bosses use violence and sexual threats to coerce children into taking their drugs from cities to sell in towns and villages.

Sentences have hovered around eight years for the biggest gang leaders, with the prospect now that they could face at least 14 years in jail. The new guidelines are graded in four levels to take account of children forced into crime.

Rosina Cottage QC, a member of the Sentencing Council, said: “Modern slavery targets vulnerable people who are exploited for financial gain by the offenders and can cause serious physical and psychological harm.

“Offending can range from largescale operations, with substantial financial gain, to offences carried out by offenders who are themselves victims either through coercion and intimidation. The sentencing range has been developed to reflect this.”