A Sudanese man who piloted a small boat packed with migrants across the Channel was caught by police thanks to the Christmas jumper he wore. Bol Chuol, 27, was steering a boat off the coast of Kent on March 22 with 71 people on board, including nine children and an 11-month-old.
Chuol was one of two men who pleaded guilty to endangering other people's lives by piloting small boats across the busy shipping lane. Fellow Sudanese national, Charun Magok, 19, was also filmed piloting a tiny boat designed for five people across the Channel on March 20.
Andrew Stephens from the Crown Prosecution Service said: "The inflatable boats piloted by Bol Chuol and Charun Magok were dangerously unsuitable for crossing the Channel. It is just luck that no one was seriously injured or died.
"Between them they put the lives of 75 people, including children and an 11-month-old, at risk in flimsy vessels with no proper safety equipment."
He said people sentenced to more than a year in prison, like Chuol and Magok, face being deported and if they make an asylum application their conviction will be taken into account.
The pair had called for their cases to be thrown out, according to the CPS, but Chuol was sentenced to two years in prison and Magok to 16 months at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday (July 15).
Prosecutors argued that Chuol put those on board the "massively overcrowded" boat in danger, with people dangling their feet in the water.
They told the court not everyone was wearing a lifejacket, the vessel was taking on water, it had no lights to alert larger ships to its position, there were no warning flares, charts, GPS devices or first aid equipment on board.
The boat piloted by Magok was "totally unsuitable", according to the CPS, as it too was taking on water because it was sitting so low in the water.
It too lacked signalling equipment, GPS devices, oars, flares, radios, charts and first aid. Magok even admitted to immigration officials that he had not piloted vessels before and crossing the Channel was dangerous.
In a bid to avoid detection, both men threw their coats into the sea and moved along the boats as drones filmed them from above.
But the authorities were able to identify Chuol because of the distinctive Christmas jumper he was wearing.
The court rejected the men's claim they took on the piloting role because they found themselves in small boats without anyone there to steer them.
Prosecutors argued that both men had ignored opportunities to be rescued by French authorities, choosing to carry on to the UK.
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, said five small boat pilots have been jailed under the UK's new endangerment offence in just over a month.
He said: "We are sending a clear message to the criminal gangs. Those risking lives and bringing illegal migrants to our shores will end up behind bars.
"We are delivering record-breaking disruption activity against these criminal networks, with arrests, convictions and seizures up 50% since this Government took office."
Endangerment makes it an offence to do an act that causes or creates a risk of the death or serious personal injury of others during a water crossing to the UK from France, Belgium or the Netherlands.
The offence came into force on January 5 and carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. It rises to six years for those in breach of a deportation order.
