Shocking drone footage shown in court has captured French maritime authorities pulling alongside a dangerously overcrowded Channel crossing boat and handing out life jackets to the migrants on board — before sailing away and leaving the vessel to continue its journey to the UK, in scenes that will intensify questions about France’s commitment to the £662 million border deal signed with Britain just weeks earlier.
The footage, which it hasn’t been made public available, was shown at Canterbury Crown Court during the sentencing of two men who admitted piloting small boats across the Channel. Alnour Mohamed Ali, 26, a Sudanese asylum seeker, was jailed for two years and three months after admitting endangering life at sea. Mohammad Tajik, 32, an Afghan national, received a two-year sentence for the same offence relating to a separate crossing. Both men face deportation given the length of their sentences.
Prosecutor Daniel Bunting told the court that Ali’s boat, measuring approximately 9 metres by 3.5 metres, had more than 70 people on board when it was eventually intercepted by UK Border Force. The vessel had an insufficient engine for the crossing, a deflated floor and none of the standard emergency equipment — no flares, paddles, lights or puncture repair kit. “People sitting astride the boat, their legs into the water. It is extremely crowded,” Bunting told the court. “A gust of wind could have capsized the boat.”
The French vessel’s intervention, shown in drone footage from 9 April, amounted to pulling alongside the overloaded inflatable, distributing life jackets and departing. “A French boat comes alongside the boat Mr Ali was on and distributes life jackets. He had the opportunity to stop and seek help,” Bunting said. “The boat was intercepted later and had left French waters.” No attempt was made by French authorities to stop the crossing or remove those on board.
In Tajik’s case, footage from a UK Border Force camera captured his crossing, which departed France on 17 January. People were sitting around the edges of the boat in what the prosecutor described as “not a safe way of travelling.” The court heard Tajik had consulted YouTube in an attempt to learn how to steer the vessel across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
The footage lands at a particularly awkward moment for the British government. In April, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a three-year agreement committing £662 million to France — £501 million for beach patrols and enforcement, with a further £160 million conditional on new tactics proving effective. The Home Office said the deal would see officers “targeting and detaining” migrants on French beaches. The footage suggests a rather different reality on the ground.
His Honour Judge Simon James said the sentences needed to carry a deterrent element, noting the “understandable and increased public interest in the arrival of small boats.” He said: “It has long been recognised that crossing the English Channel in a small and overcrowded inflatable boat is to undertake a perilous journey fraught with risk. As the frequency of trips increased, so have the instances of tragedy. The inherent dangers of seeking to navigate one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, in a vessel never designed to undertake such a journey, are obvious.”
The court heard that Tajik had fled Afghanistan after his father and brother were executed by the Taliban for refusing to follow orders. He had a previous asylum claim rejected in Greece before arriving in the UK. Ali said he left Darfur because of the civil war. Neither man was involved in organising the crossings, the court heard, and there were no casualties during either journey. Both showed no emotion as their sentences were handed down.
