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“The majority of smugglers lose their money on gambling, drugs and discos.”

Those are the words of someone involved in cross-Channel people smuggling.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News, they lifted the lid on how people make it to Britain on small boats.

In just a few days, the government is set to publish new laws aiming to stop small boats crossing the Channel, with illegal migration remaining one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s priorities.

In a wide-ranging discussion, the smuggler revealed how they avoid the police and what they make of the government’s Rwanda deportation plan.

They also disclose how most of those involved in taking people across the Channel end up in the UK themselves.

And they blame “mafia” groups for the deaths of more than 30 people who drowned while trying to cross the Channel in November 2021.

Here’s what else they told us about how these criminal gangs operate, in our full Q&A.

How would you describe your role?

It starts in the camps. The refugees are there – all nationalities from Kurds to Afghans, Albanians and Pakistanis – and so are the smugglers.

People get the smuggler’s name and make an agreement about where to meet. Passengers are sent on foot, by bus or car to the beach.

The smuggler waits for the equipment to arrive, it’s assembled, then people are put in boats and they set off.

Smugglers are just doing business, transferring people to the other side.

They work and make money. They are even helping people.

We see it as just another job, like working in a restaurant or a barbershop.

Read more:
How police exposed dark world of people smuggling
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Record numbers crossed Channel in 2022

What does it cost to get to Britain and what’s the process?

The first thing is the money. If someone has money, it’s easier.

If they don’t have money, the journey is more difficult and they’ll have to wait around.

If there are too many migrants, the prices go up. So it goes from €500 to €2,500.

If there aren’t enough people then the prices drop.

Different nationalities also affect the prices. For example, Albanians pay more, Pakistanis pay more.

Cracking down on people smugglers is a top priority for Rishi Sunak's government
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Cracking down on people smugglers is a top priority for Rishi Sunak’s government

How difficult do the French police make it?

Smugglers play hide and seek. If the police are there, they hide and wait till they have gone and then we do our job.

The police watch us, and we also watch the police. When they have gone, we do the job.

But if the police are there they disrupt our work and puncture the dinghy.

It’s becoming more difficult to avoid the police because the locations have now been identified.

In the past, it was just the trucks. The police now know from which points smugglers send people.

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Cross-Channel smuggler speaks to Sky News

People have died going to Britain on small boats – would you put your family on a boat?

Yes, it’s normal. People take four days [to travel] from Greece to Italy. Compared to that trip, this journey is nothing.

People put their own family members in these dinghies – their wives, sisters and brothers.

Sometimes, they cross themselves.

Smugglers Q&A

Is smuggling a lucrative business?

Some people lose money.

An eight-metre dinghy costs around €1,000-€12,000. If the police come and tear it apart, that’s €12,000 down the drain.

Sometimes it happens twice, or the engine doesn’t work, or the dinghy is confiscated on its way.

But some also make a profit.

The majority of smugglers lose their money on gambling, drugs and discos.

Tell us more about smugglers and the UK.

Three-quarters of the smugglers are in Britain. The money they make, they invest in business there.

They live there, life is easier there. Regardless of their nationalities, three-quarters of the smugglers live in the UK and invest their money in business.

They are happier there. They rent houses under someone else’s name and drive cars without a licence.

They walk around London. They walk around Leeds, Birmingham and Newcastle.

They have made money, invested it there and have businesses.

They send people across the water and then they jump on the last boat and cross the water.

What about the UK government’s Rwanda plan – would that change anything?

I swear even if they send people to the Amazon, people will come to Britain – it’s their wish to go to Britain.

It will change a bit for some nationalities.

It will decrease but not to the extent that refugees won’t come to Britain.

People will still come.

Smugglers Q&A

Where do the boats come from?

In the past, people would go to Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium and would buy boats there. But that has decreased because it was discovered [by police].

So now people bring the boats from Turkey – they can buy them in bulk and it’s cheaper.

It costs around €3,500. So they buy five or six and send them to Germany by post, and then from Germany, cars transport them to France.

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A record number of 45,756 people attempted the dangerous journey from France to the UK last year, a rise of over 60%

How did the deaths of 31 migrants in the Channel in 2021 make you feel?

Some of these guys [other people smugglers] have no conscience.

Even when the weather is not good, they are addicts and just want the money and to play with people’s lives.

People are desperate in the camps in the rain and cold, and with the police’s dawn raids.

If you tell the migrants “tonight is good”, everyone swarms around you and they don’t care. They don’t know about the weather.

Some of the smugglers are mafia, not smugglers, and do it only for the money. They know the weather is not good, but they still play with people’s lives.

The night of the incident was one of those nights.

The ones who did it were mafia – they have no heart.

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Three men jailed for plotting to murder £54m Securitas robber Paul Allen

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Three men jailed for plotting to murder £54m Securitas robber Paul Allen

Three men have been jailed for a combined total of 99 years for plotting to murder a member of a gang that carried out Britain’s biggest-ever cash robbery.

Paul Allen, 46, was shot twice as he stood in his kitchen in Woodford, east London, on 11 July 2019.

He was a member of the Securitas heist gang that stole £54m from a cash depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006.

The former cage fighter was living in a large detached rented house with his partner and three young children after being released from an 18-year prison sentence over the raid.

The attack at his home has left him paralysed from the chest down.

Louis Ahearne, 36, Stewart Ahearne, 46, and Daniel Kelly, 46, denied conspiring to murder Allen but were found guilty last month following a trial at the Old Bailey.

The trio were sentenced at the Old Bailey in central London on Friday.

Kelly was sentenced to 36 years in prison and an extra five years on licence, Louis Ahearne was jailed for 33 years, and his sibling Stewart Ahearne – 30 years.

Damage to the kitchen door.
Pic: Met Police/PA
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Damage to the kitchen door. Pic: Met Police/PA

A bullet casing found in the back garden. Pic: Met Police
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A bullet casing found in the back garden. Pic: Met Police

Prosecutors did not give a motive for the murder plot, though they described the victim as a “sophisticated” career criminal.

Detectives said the shooting could seem like “the plot [of] a Hollywood blockbuster” but added it was actually “horrific criminality” from “hardened organised criminals”.

In her sentencing remarks, the judge said she believed the trio “were motivated by a promise of financial gain”.

Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC said: “I have no doubt that this agreement to murder Paul Allen involved other people apart from the three of you and that you three were motivated by a promise of financial gain.

“The culpability of each one of you is very high.

“The harm caused to the victim was very serious – indeed, short of killing him it could hardly be more serious. He is currently paralysed and relies on others for every single need.”

The shooting was just the latest act in a long list of criminal deeds. The day before, Kelly and Louise Ahearne used a rented car to carry out a burglary in Kent, accessing the gated community by pretending to be police officers.

A month before that, the trio had stolen more than $3.5m (£2.78m) worth of Ming dynasty antiques from the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva, for which the Ahearne brothers had been jailed in Switzerland.

Kelly is also wanted in Japan over the robbery of a Tokyo jewellery store in 2015 in which a security guard was punched in the face.

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UK

Claire Chick: Paul Butler jailed for life for murdering Plymouth university lecturer

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Claire Chick: Paul Butler jailed for life for murdering Plymouth university lecturer

A man has been jailed for life for the murder of university lecturer Claire Chick.

Paul Butler was sentenced to a minimum term of 27 years for killing his estranged wife after a six-month campaign of stalking and harassment when he refused to accept their relationship was over.

Ms Chick, 48, was found seriously injured on West Hoe Road in Plymouth just before 9pm on 22 January. She was taken to hospital, but died the next day.

Previously known as Claire Butler, Ms Chick worked at the University of Plymouth.

Paul Antony Butler.
Pic: Devon & Cornwall Police
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Paul Butler has been jailed for murder. Pic: Devon & Cornwall Police


She died after a frenzied attack outside her home – the attack a culmination of months of harassment, stalking and violence at the hands of Butler.

Following her death, Devon and Cornwall Police made a referral to the police watchdog due to previous contact prior to her death.

Jo Martin KC, prosecuting, said Ms Chick had made six statements to the police about Butler and he had been arrested three times.

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In her final statement to police the day before he killed her outside her own home, she said: “I only feel that Butler will kill me if further action is not taken. I am in fear of leaving my house.”

Butler was arrested around 20 miles away in the Liskeard area on 24 January.

He was sentenced on Friday at Plymouth Crown Court, having previously pleaded guilty to murder, and to one charge of possession of a bladed article.

‘I loved Claire’

The family of Ms Chick told the court how her murder left a “huge void” in their lives.

Her eldest daughter, Bethany Hancock-Baxter, described Butler as “evil”.

She said: “I want this evil man to listen to me. I want you to know what you have done to us as a family.

“Despite all the hate I have for you, I cannot bring myself to do what you did to my mum – that’s because I am not evil like you.”

Her sister, Lydia Peers, said Butler was a “parasite”.

After her short-lived marriage to Butler, Ms Chick began a relationship with another man, Paul Maxwell.

Mr Maxwell spoke from the witness box and repeatedly stared at the defendant as he spoke. Butler stared back at him.

“I loved Claire. She was beautiful, funny and kind,” Mr Maxwell said.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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Vincent Nichols: British cardinal who will be in the conclave says picking the next pope is ‘intimidating’

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Vincent Nichols: British cardinal who will be in the conclave says picking the next pope is 'intimidating'

The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has told Sky News it’s “intimidating” to be one of those responsible for choosing the next pope.

Vincent Nichols is among four UK cardinals in Rome for the Pope’s funeral on Saturday.

Following the funeral, and after nine days of mourning, cardinals from around the world will gather in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to cast their votes, with white smoke announcing to the world when a new pope has been elected.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols with Anna Botting
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Cardinal Vincent Nichols speaks to Sky’s Anna Botting

Cardinal Nichols told Sky’s Anna Botting: “I hope nobody goes into this conclave, as it were, with the sole purpose of wanting to win. I think it’s very important that we go in wanting to listen to each other… It has to be together, trying to sense what God wants next. Not just for the church.”

He described the procession that took Pope Francis to lie in state as “the most moving thing I’ve ever attended here”.

Describing the Pope as a “master of the gesture and the phrase”, he also recalled the pontiff’s last journey away from the Vatican.

Cardinal Nichols said Pope Francis had visited the Regina Coeli prison, telling the inmates: “You know, except for the grace of God, it could well have been me … Don’t lose hope, God has you written in his heart.”

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‘Pope touched the hearts of millions’

The Pope later told his doctor his last regret was not being able to wash the feet of the prisoners during that visit.

Becoming emotional, he also said the final message he would like to have given Pope Francis is “thank you”.

The 88-year-old died peacefully on Easter Monday, the Vatican confirmed.

Heads of state – including Sir Keir Starmer, Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron – have all confirmed their attendance at his funeral, which takes place on Saturday at St Peter’s Square.

Prince William will attend on behalf of the King, Kensington Palace has said.

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Where will Pope Francis be buried?

Talking about the seating plan at the funeral, Cardinal Nichols said he understood it to be “royalty first, then heads of state, then political leaders”.

Worldwide geopolitical tensions mean that many eyes will be on interactions between heads of state at the event, with particular focus on Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy following their tense meeting at the Oval Office in February.

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Pope’s cause of death confirmed .

Looking back at the last papal funeral, Cardinal Nichols described the seating of the then Prince Charles one seat away from Zimbabwean present Robert Mugabe as “obviously a little bit tense”.

Cardinal Nichols explained event would be “exactly the same Catholic rite as everyone else – just on a grander scale”.

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3D map shows pope’s funeral route

In a break from tradition, Pope Francis will be the first pope in a century to be interred outside the Vatican – and will instead be laid to rest at his favourite church, Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome’s Esquilino neighbourhood.

He will also be buried in just one simple wooden coffin, instead of the traditional three coffins which are usually used for pontiffs.

Born in Crosby near Liverpool, Cardinal Vincent Nichols hoped to be a lorry driver as a child – but as a teenager reportedly felt the calling to join the priesthood while watching Liverpool FC.

As cardinal, he is known for leading the church’s work tackling human trafficking and modern slavery, for which he received the UN Path to Peace Award.

He was criticised by the UK’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which said he “demonstrated a lack of understanding” of the impact of abuse and “seemingly put the reputation of the church first”.

Cardinal Nichols, responding to the findings, previously told Sky News he was “ashamed at what has happened in the context of the Catholic Church” and promised to improve the church’s response.

He has appeared to rule himself out of the running for pope, telling reporters he was “too old, not capable”.

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