THREE people have been jailed after attempting to smuggle five Albanian migrants across the channel.

Two people were arrested in the early hours of June 27 as they prepared to leave the French port of Cherbourg in a small vessel.

It was part of an operation led by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) working with the NCA, Border Force and the French authorities.

Five Albanian migrants were found on board. The boat had sailed to France from the Isle of Wight two days earlier.

On July 2, at a court in Cherbourg, boat skipper Joshua Van Praagh, 25, from Portsmouth, was jailed for three years and banned from returning to France for ten years. Albanian national Armando Hodo, 25, was jailed for three years and also banned from France.

They were sentenced on July 22.

A 54-year-old man from London, was also convicted, but appealed and has today been jailed. He was also arrested on June 27 in Cherbourg.

Wayne Mills was sentenced to four years in prison and given a 10-year ban from entering France after withdrawing his appeal on July 30.

He was arrested on June 27 at the French port of Cherbourg.