Migrant crisis: ‘Unsustainable’ pressure on RNLI to rescue people crossing Channel
A former RNLI crew member in Kent has described the pressure on lifeboat volunteers called out to rescue migrants crossing the channel as “unsustainable”.
Referring to the rise over the summer in arrivals of asylum seekers from Albania, David Wimble said: “Albania is, I think, probably the straw that’s broken the camel’s back.”
The issue of how to deal with the arrival of small boats continues to divide some in Kent’s coastal communities.
The charity Care4Calais meets migrants at Dungeness with food, water and flipflops – they say they want to counter hostility towards migrants on the beach.
The RNLI crews are almost all volunteers. Their remit is to save lives at sea and they rely on donations.
David Wimble was on the lifeboat crew at Littlestone in Kent for 18 years. He is also a local councillor and works for a local newspaper.
He says he is in touch with RNLI crew members from different stations along the coast.
RNLI volunteers try to warm up migrants rescued in the Channel
David Wimble said rescue efforts are ‘interfering’ with the RNLI’s normal work and training exercises
Mr Wimble, who left the RNLI as crew in 2011, told Sky News: “It’s interfering with normal work the stations would do and the training exercises.
“But more importantly it’s getting harder for crews to actually give up the time to go and do this because most of them have full time jobs and their employers – who are normally very, very understanding – let them drop everything as soon as the pagers go off to go on a job.
“More and more crew members are saying that something is going to have to be done sooner rather than later because it’s not sustainable to keep doing this.”
Simon Ling said his crews are facing pressure from ‘unprecedented rescue demand’
‘Unprecedented rescue demand’
The RNLI told Sky News the welfare of its volunteers and staff is “a top priority”.
Simon Ling, RNLI head of lifeboats, said: “The very most important thing that I can do in this role is understand the pressures that this type of unprecedented rescue demand is placing upon our people. I’m confident we’re doing that now.
“We are coming up with a whole range of interventions which are specifically aimed at looking after our people, improving our training and improving our equipment.
“The whole concept of volunteers waking up in the middle of the night and leaving their families to go to sea to rescue strangers is a very powerful one and one that we’re very keen to protect.”
Katie Sweetingham, the emergency response team leader in Kent for Care4Calais, tries to meet asylum seekers on the beach at Dungeness if they are brought ashore there by the RNLI.
But this has prompted criticism that the actions of the charity, which also operates in northern France, could in some way encourage or facilitate crossings – which it denies.
Katie Sweetingham, emergency response team leader in Kent for the charity Care4Calais
Hostility ‘directed in wrong place’
Ms Sweetingham said: “Yes we’re friendly and welcoming but nobody leaves their home and makes such a dangerous journey to get to the UK because somebody is smiling and offering them some dry clothes when they get to the beach.
“To think that that might be the case you don’t fully understand the journeys that people have made to get to the UK. They’re coming to the UK largely because they have family ties to the UK or some connection to the UK with culture or language.
“It’s a difficult issue because lots of the facts are obscured. I think the hostility is being directed in the wrong place.”
Along the coast there are plenty of people with opinions on the small boats situation – but there is also a reluctance to speak out publicly.
Kent resident Tina Goodyer believes people crossing the Channel shouldn’t be ‘Britain’s problem’
However, we arranged to meet up with Lydd resident Tina Goodyer who has lived in Kent for 21 years.
Ms Goodyer – like others we have been in touch with – supports the government’s efforts to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
She told Sky News she’s lost friends over the issue but said resolutely: “I’ve been called nasty names but it’s like water off a duck’s back, I don’t care. I’m entitled to my opinion and I will have my opinion.
“If they get here they should be sent to Rwanda – wherever – but not here. It shouldn’t be our problem. We’ve got enough problems in this country.”
Read more:
Archbishop slams Rwanda asylum scheme as ‘ungodly‘
Rwanda explained: How the UK’s plan mirrors policies in Australia, Israel and Denmark
Referring to asylum seekers being provided with food and accommodation while they wait for their claims to be processed, Ms Goodyer said: “It makes me very angry because we’ve got a lot of elderly people in this country who will have real problems this winter.”
And that’s a sentiment that is creeping into this debate as Britain finds itself in the middle of a cost of living crisis.
Andy Lawrence said that like the migrants he would do anything to keep his children safe
Another Kent resident, Andy Lawrence, a butcher, said: “I think more people will start to look at it from that way and it will cast more of a negative light over the issue.”
But he added: “As a father of three myself if I was in their position would I do the same of course.”
A man has been convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in London and China between 2019 and 2023.
Chinese PhD student Zhenhao Zou, 28, filmed nine of the attacks as “souvenirs”, and kept a trophy box of women’s belongings, jurors in his trial were told.
Warning: This article contains details of sexual offences
He was accused in court of drugging and raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2023.
Jurors at Inner London Crown Court found him guilty of 11 charges of rape against 10 women, including two who have been identified and another eight who have yet to be traced.
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Moment police arrest student guilty of rape
The mechanical engineering student was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism, 10 of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one of false imprisonment and three of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.
He was cleared of two further counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image and one of possession of MDMA with intent to commit a sexual offence.
The trial heard Zou kept a ‘lost property box’ full of women’s belongings. Pic: Met Police
The jury has not reached verdicts on four counts of possession of drugs with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Zou – who first moved to Belfast in 2017 to study mechanical engineering at Queen’s University before moving to London in 2019 – showed no visible reaction as the verdicts were read out in court.
Catherine Farrelly KC, prosecuting, told jurors during the trial that Zou “presents as a smart and charming young man” but is “also a persistent sexual predator; a voyeur and a rapist”.
A discreet camera belonging to Zou. Pic: Met Police
Zou, who also used the name Pakho online, befriended fellow Chinese students on WeChat and dating apps, before inviting them for drinks and drugging them at his flats in London or an unknown location in China, the court heard.
The jury heard how he would secretly film his attacks using a mobile device and hidden cameras, and was shown evidence found on SD cards at his accommodation of him raping unconscious women in London and in China.
Senior Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor Saira Pike thanked the “incredibly strong and brave” women who came forward to report his “heinous” crimes.
“Zou is a serial rapist and a danger to women,” she said.
“In some instances, we have not been able to identify Zou’s victims. Without knowing who these women are, we have not been able to support them through a deeply distressing period of time.
“We have always been determined to seek justice for both the unidentified and identified victims in this case.”
A woman has pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter over the deaths of four paddleboarders on a river in Pembrokeshire.
Paddleboarding instructor Nerys Lloyd, 39, conducted a stand up paddle tour during extremely hazardous conditions on the River Cleddau in the West Wales town of Haverfordwest in October 2021.
Andrea Powell, 41, Morgan Rogers, 24 and Nicola Wheatley, 40 – and Lloyd’s fellow instructor Paul O’Dwyer, 42 – died after getting into difficulty.
At the time of the tragedy there had been heavy flooding and severe weather warnings were in place.
Lloyd, 39, who was the owner and sole director of Salty Dog Co Ltd, spoke to confirm her name before pleading guilty on Wednesday to all five counts, including an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Police were called to the weir in Haverfordwest after reports of paddleboarders in distress.
As the group approached the weir, the three participants were pulled over the top and became trapped.
Mr O’Dwyer initially exited the water, but re-entered the river in an attempt to rescue the others.
Nerys Lloyd (centre, on crutches) leaving Swansea Crown Court. Pic: PA
Death has ‘left a void’
Emergency services attended and Mr O’Dwyer, from Port Talbot, Ms Rogers, from Merthyr Tydfil, and Ms Wheatley, from Swansea, were declared dead at the scene.
Ms Powell, from Bridgend, was taken to hospital but died six days later.
The four victims died of drowning/immersion, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
After the incident, Ms Wheatley’s family paid tribute to her and said her death had “left a void in [their] lives that will never be filled”.
Ms Rogers’s family said she was the “best that she could be” and would be “sadly missed”.
The family of Mr O’Dwyer described him as “a devoted husband, father, son and brother”, whose “passion for the water” began at an early age.
Ms Powell was someone who “loved life”, her family said, as they thanked those who had shown them support.
Pic: OpenStreetMap
‘Avoidable tragedy’
Lisa Rose, specialist prosecutor with the CPS’s special crime division, said it was an “avoidable tragedy”.
“Despite going to check the state of the river before departing on the tour, Nerys Lloyd failed to inspect the weir,” she said.
Ms Rose said there was “no safety briefing or formal risk assessments” and that Lloyd “was not qualified to take paddleboarders out in such hazardous conditions”.
“Final decisions to continue with the event were Lloyd’s decision, and as a result she held complete and entire responsibility,” Ms Rose added.
Sentencing to take place in April
“I hope these convictions provide some sense of justice for those affected and our thoughts remain with the families and friends of the victims at this time.”
Read more from Sky News:
PhD student convicted of raping 10 women
Liam Payne’s girlfriend ‘still working on accepting’ his death
Why is Noel Clarke suing The Guardian?
Lloyd, of Aberavon, was charged with the offences on 4 October last year.
She was granted unconditional bail by Judge Mrs Justice Stacey until her sentencing hearing on 15 April.
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