Man who crammed migrants into tiny car boot jailed

Border Force agents found the woman and child wedged in the boot when they stopped the car in France.

Blurred at source. Two migrants were crammed in the back of a car bound for the UK (Home Office/PA) (PA Media)

A British man who crammed a woman and child into a tiny car boot with little room to move or breathe has been jailed, the Home Office has said.

Leon Leslie, 39, stashed the Vietnamese migrants – a 14-year-old girl and a 20-year-old woman – into the back of his hired Kia and tried to transport them to the UK.

Border Force agents found the pair wedged in the boot when they stopped the car in Coquelles, France, on April 16 last year.

Leslie, from Birmingham, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration into the UK.

When questioned, he refused to offer any explanation as to why the woman and girl were in his car, the Home Office said.

Leslie was jailed for three years at Canterbury Crown Court On Thursday, having pleaded guilty.

Home Office Criminal Investigation officer Nadia Kehayova said: “This criminal crammed a young woman and a child inside his car boot with little room to move or even breathe, showing total disregard for their safety.

“The sole priority of these criminals is financial gain, at the expense of those they exploit under false promises of a better life in the UK.

“We will continue to work tirelessly to secure our borders and clamp down on the people who heartlessly endanger vulnerable people to make money.”