Mother and daughter who attempted to smuggle Albanians into the UK spared jail

Kimberley Harding, 39, and Leonie Harding, 21 were arrested after Border Force officers in Coquelles, France, found five people hiding behind a curtain in one of the vehicle’s storage compartments when they conducted a routine search in December 2020.

An investigation found they had travelled from Hull to Rotterdam on a ferry, with forged documents which said they were hospital workers, earlier that month when Covid-19 restrictions were preventing most people from travelling abroad.

After the two women were arrested, they told police they had been travelling for work and had “no idea” that anyone was hiding in the campervan.

But the mother and daughter, who live in Montagu Road in Wetherby, both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration earlier this year and they were given suspended prison sentences at Leeds Crown Court today.

Judge Robin Mairs said he accepted the women “were not the planners, instigators or indeed the profiteers” in the people smuggling operation, which was organised by Christopher Henningan.

The 35-year-old from Leeds was jailed at the same court last week, for 11 years and 10 months, after he was convicted of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, firearms offences and assault.

The court heard that messages found on Facebook and Whatsapp revealed Henningan had organised the trip made by the two women and provided them with a rental vehicle, false documents and money.

The judge said: “This was planned and professional criminality, but the planning and the professionalism were Hennigan’s rather than yours. And indeed, the profits that were to be made from this were also Hennigan’s.”

He told the women they would not be immediately sent to prison, as they were “not the operating mind of this conspiracy”, they had pleaded guilty at the “earliest realistic opportunity” and they had no previous convictions.

Kimberley Harding was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and her daughter was given an 18-month sentence, suspended for 12 months, because the judge said she “played a lesser role”.

It comes as the Government is attempting to significantly reduce the number of migrants who are entering the UK illegally, with its flagship “stop the boats” policy.

The UK received 74,751 applications for asylum in 2022 – the highest number recorded since 2002.

The Government said this was down to “a substantial increase in small boat arrivals”, as just under half (45 per cent) of the asylum applications last year were from people who crossed the Channel illegally in those vessels.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has repeatedly vowed to stop these boats, as official figures show more than 100,000 migrants have travelled in them to reach the UK since 2018.

But he has been accused of using the issue to distract voters from more pressing issues affecting the country and leaving thousands of migrants to languish in hotels and other forms of accommodation instead of providing the Home Office with the resources it needs to process their claims.

At the end of December 2022, there were 132,182 cases awaiting an initial decision – more than three times the figure (40,032) recorded at the end of 2019.