A couple who joined a people-smuggling ring to pay off debts—a husband and wife—has received a sentence.
In 2019, Nicholas and Pamela Fullwood acknowledged attempting to smuggle two Iraqi men concealed inside furniture.
After renting a van and attempting to enter France with five people, Mr. Fullwood was additionally stopped by French authorities in December 2018.
At Canterbury Crown Court on Monday, they and a third defendant, Azad Ahmadi, received sentences.
After both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to aid in unlawful immigration prior to a trial, Mr. Fullwood, 48, received a three-year prison sentence and Mrs. Fullwood, 45, received a two-year suspended sentence.
Ahmadi, 31, of Derby's Westgreen Avenue, had entered a not guilty plea to the same offense but was found guilty after a trial last year and given a four-year and six-month sentence.
Mr. Fullwood rented a van and tried to enter the UK with five Iraqi nationals in December 2018, but the French authorities stopped him, according to Francis Lloyd, the prosecutor.
Later, while traveling with their daughter, who was then 13 years old, he and his wife from Wingfield Road, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, were caught trying to smuggle two Iraqis hidden inside furniture inside another hired van.
According to Mr. Lloyd, Ahmadi was the "paymaster" of the scheme who wired £4,280 to the Fullwoods' bank account.
Recorder Michael Turner stated during sentencing that Ahmadi was "at the head of" the operation and that Mr. Fullwood's involvement "had an air of desperation" to it.
He told the latter, "I know you were threatened by a loan shark you borrowed money from, but ultimately your offending cannot be excused.
He continued, "You were involved in this conspiracy out of a misguided sense of loyalty to your husband," referring to Mrs. Fullwood, who the court was informed had battled cancer and would undergo a preventative procedure in March. ".
After the verdict, Robert Jenrick, the minister of immigration, declared: "We are determined to bring the criminal gangs that engage in the abhorrent business of people-smuggling to justice.
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