Trio jailed over conspiracy to smuggle migrants across the English Channel

Three men who were involved in a conspiracy to smuggle migrants in boats that kept breaking down across the English Channel have been jailed for a combined total of 14 years.

Freddy Lawrence, 57, Keith Baigent, 63, and Paul Giglia, 64, played “significant roles” in trying to traffick people to the UK after several failed attempts during a 10-day period in August 2018.

Lawrence and Baigent took part in buying a boat called the Sorel Light for £30,000 in July of that year, which was used to try to carry out the crossings, with Baigent registering the vessel under his own name.

But Canterbury Crown Court heard the operation was “beset with boat failures” and prosecutor Leo Seelig described the enterprise as “poorly executed”.

The Sorel Light had to be towed back across the Channel multiple times, including for a steering malfunction, forcing them to hire another boat, the Piscator.

That boat also had to be towed back to Dover marina, after it ran out of fuel on another failed attempt to cross the Channel to pick up migrants, the National Crime Agency (NCA) added.

The court heard that on August 30, 2018, the Sorel Light was intercepted by French authorities as it tried to pick up 12 Vietnamese migrants on a beach near Wimereux, south of Calais.

The three defendants were not on the boat but other co-conspirators on board were arrested and prosecuted in France.

Lawrence was described as the “centre of the conspiracy”, driven by financial reward, and was in contact with co-conspirators throughout the attempted enterprise using multiple mobile phone numbers.

He is currently serving time in prison for drug dealing and money laundering and was sentenced to seven and a half years on Friday.

Judge Edmund Fowler also sentenced Baigent to three years and nine months, and Giglia to three years and four months.

The three will serve one half of their sentence in custody and the rest on licence.

Addressing the defendants, he said: “It is apparent the primary purpose and only purpose of this conspiracy was a money-making venture, seeking to run boats over the Channel to collect migrants at night time.

“It was clear significant returns of money were expected.

“The boat proved somewhat unreliable and the scheme beset with problems from the start.”

Lawrence, of Woodfield Close, Folkestone, pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration in October 2024, while Giglia, of Cheriton, and Baigent, of Dover Road, Folkestone were convicted of the same offence on November 14 and 15 November respectively, the NCA said.

Defending Lawrence, Katherine Kelleher said: “He may have been a yes man or right-hand man, he was not the leader, the leader was under arrest in France, it is that simple.”

She said Lawrence wanted to apologise and show his remorse to the court for ever becoming involved in the conspiracy.

In mitigation for Baigent, his lawyer Nicholas Hamblin said he was acting under instructions of others and his role was to “effectively pay off a drug debt”.

The court heard in mitigation for all three defendants that the sentence comes six years after the offence, after the pandemic and court delays.

For Giglia, it was heard he was “easily induced” to take part in the crime at a vulnerable and isolated time in his life, through the offer of small rewards such as companionship, food and alcohol.

Defending, Faye Rolfe said his personal safety was most at risk, as he piloted some of the journeys, being in the middle of the Channel without a great deal of boat experience.

National Crime Agency senior investigating officer Steven Ahmet said: “Although this was an amateurish criminal enterprise, the intention was clear, to smuggle vulnerable migrants to the UK using ramshackle vessels.

“These journeys would have put lives in peril as Lawrence and his accomplices, who between them had little sailing experience, were navigating through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

“Their primary motivation was financial gain and they had no regard for the lives of the people they intended to transport.”

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