From the Jungle to the sea, migrants risk their lives to reach England
Migrants attempting to cross the English Channel under the cover of darkness are being rescued just minutes from death – but at least 10 boats are believed to have made it to the UK in the past month.
Since October, at least 28 vessels attempting to cross the Channel have been intercepted by French authorities, while more than 110 migrants have been picked up by their British counterparts.
Piecing together accounts from people in the Calais and Dunkirk migrant camps, The Sunday Telegraph understands that at least 10 boats, carrying a total of 60 people, have reached Britain undetected. They are the lucky ones.
Gerard Barron, the head of the Boulogne-sur-Mer lifeboat station, and his crews have helped save 11 men in four separate incidents in the past two months. Last weekend, he was out for eight hours on two emergency calls in one night. “We picked up two guys who claimed to be Iranians. If we had not got there they would have been dead within minutes. I am convinced that some have died already.”
Mr Barron, 70, was born in England but has lived in France since 1972. In 34 years in the job he has never seen such recklessness. “There was a body picked up in the water recently and I was told by the Gendarmerie that he definitely wasn’t French.”
Pascal Marconville, prosecutor of Boulogne-sur-Mer, confirmed that a body, presumed to be a migrant, was picked up in Calais after the man “drowned trying to swim to a ferry”.
Mr Barron says his greatest fear is that his crew will be attacked by smugglers. “These people are criminals and they are dangerous,” he said. “We have heard of them attacking authorities. In one incident a boat had upturned close to shore and when authorities tried to round up the migrants one was caught with a gun on him. We are there to save lives, not to be policemen.”
The Telegraph visited Calais after several small boats and dinghies carrying migrants made the perilous journey to Dover, prompting Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, to say he was considering deploying a Royal Navy cutter to rescue the increasing numbers crossing the Channel after paying people smugglers.
Pascal Deborgher, a fisherman, knows exactly how ruthless smugglers can be after his boat, L’Epervier, was stolen and taken to Dover with 17 Iranian migrants on board.
He said he received a phone call in the middle of the night asking “what the hell” he was doing, and why his boat was full of people. “I told them my boat was in the harbour, but when I went down to check it was gone,” he said.
His boat was recovered by British authorities, said Mr Deborgher but it is in a repair yard after suffering damage on the trip. He said that cannabis joints were found inside the cabin. “These were skilful sailors. They knew about the currents and how to drive the boat. I am sympathetic to them, I really am. They must have had terrible lives.”
Inside the new “Jungle” camp that has sprung up less than a kilometre from the old infamous site, Ali, a 40-year-old Iranian, says he knows a group of seven men who made it to the UK just two weeks ago. “The drivers are like diamonds,” he says. “They are all fishermen from the north of Iran, from the Caspian sea. They know boats. The smugglers let the drivers go for free and everyone else has to pay.
“They bought a boat for €3,000 (£2,660) and paid another €1,500 for it to be brought to a secret location. They called me last week and told me they were in Huddersfield and were very happy.”
Other groups of Iranians are understood to have arrived in Birmingham and Wigan, while some migrants caught by officials are understood to have been transferred to a hostel in Liverpool.
The smugglers are predominantly Kurdish and ask for money, generally around €2,000 (£1,770) to be transferred electronically to a bank account in England. Once they have been paid, and the weather conditions are right, they will tell the migrants it is time to go.
Hearing that his friends are on the other side of the Channel is bittersweet for Ali, who lived in England between the ages of 20 and 35.
“I left Iran and went to Sweden. I wanted a better life,” he said. “I flew to Heathrow on a fake Swedish passport and got into the country. It was wonderful and I never thought I would leave. I had a girlfriend from Widnes. I moved to Liverpool, spent time in Camden Town and High Street Kensington.”
Around him now are muddy tracks, makeshift tents and dozens of migrants desperate to make it to England.
“I had a good life in England. I was a doorman at nightclubs. I have met Ryan Giggs and stood next to Madonna. This is the English dream, no?” he adds, laughing. “I had a driving licence and paid taxes. I just never got my passport.
“But five years ago I got a call telling me that my mother had died. My mother was in Iran and I could not go back and I didn’t know what to do, so I left the country on a lorry. That was the biggest mistake of my life.”
Ali made it to Sweden to see his sister, but she urged him to go back to England and not relinquish the life he had made for himself.
Despite applying for asylum properly, he was rejected after being caught lying about having a British passport.
“They know I lived here for 15 years, but I told them I had lost my passport. They checked and found I never had one. Then they told me I could not come in.”
There has been a lull in activity as the weather and sea conditions have turned in the past few days, but Ingrid Parrot, of the French maritime police, knows there are migrants ready and waiting to go.
“Trying to cross by boat is so dangerous,” she said. “Please, I ask that they don’t take the risk.”
‘They are criminals and they are dangerous. One was caught with a gun. We are there to save lives, not to be policemen’