Teen who piloted Channel boat carrying 165 migrants jailed

Canterbury Crown Court has sentenced 19-year-old Chan Mathok Atak, from South Sudan, to two years and three months in prison after he admitted endangering others while piloting a dinghy carrying 165 migrants across the English Channel on 23 July.

Prosecutor James Harrison told the court the boat Atak piloted measured 3.9 metres wide and 14.3 metres long — roughly the length of a standard bus. Among the 165 people aboard were 31 children, the youngest just 14 years old.

The Border Force said the vessel had no navigation aids, no flares and no firefighting equipment on board.

Judge cites severity of offence

Judge Sarah Counsell said the offence was so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence could be justified. She also warned Atak that, as a foreign national, he is in principle liable to automatic deportation once his sentence is complete.

At the time of the crossing, the 165 migrants aboard set a record for the largest number carried on a small boat to the UK in recent years. That record has since been broken, with 230 people found aboard a boat in August.