STORY
A Sudanese man has pleaded guilty to endangering people during a Channel crossing after four migrants drowned while trying to reach a small boat off the coast of France.
Alnour Mohamed Ali, 27, admitted the offence after the deaths of two men and two women on 9 April. The four died after being swept away while trying to board a dinghy at Equihen-Plage, near Boulogne-sur-Mer. More than 40 people were rescued off the northern French coast that morning, with two children taken to hospital as a precaution and another person treated for hypothermia.
Ali pleaded guilty through an Arabic interpreter to piloting a boat in a way that created a risk of death or serious injury to others on board, while knowing he would arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance. The National Crime Agency had previously said he was charged after being arrested at the Manston processing centre in Kent, following an investigation into the fatal crossing.
The case is one of the first prosecutions under a new offence of endangering another person during a journey by sea to the UK. The NCA said in April that the deaths happened as migrants tried to board what it described as a “water taxi”, a smuggling tactic increasingly used to avoid police on French beaches. Ali is due to be sentenced on 10 June.