Driver brought in Turks
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By Annette Wilson • A Kent lorry driver has been jailed for four and a half years for bringing in 24 illegal Turkish immigrants into Britain.
Canterbury Crown Court heard John Richard Stanley, 49, of Church Street, St Mary, Sandwich but formerly of Honey Lane, Otham near Maidstone, brought in the Turks on four journeys between September and November 1995.
He was due to be paid £12,000 but only received £8,000. The reasons for the offences were said to be his failing haulage business and mounting debts.
Stanley admitted four charges of facilitating illegal entry. Each time he brought in the Turks from the Continent through Dover to Maidstone where he would arrange for them to go to London by taxi.
Taxi drivers became suspicious and called the police. Stanley was arrested with five immigrants in his BMW and six in his lorry, said David Walden-Smith, prosecuting.
Katherine Dunn, for Stanley, said his business was running at a £14,000 annual loss and he saw this as a chance to earn money.
He was also motivated by previous kindness he had experienced in Turkey from local people when his lorry broke down.
He feared for his wife's well-being if he was jailed but accepted he faced a custodial sentence.
Jailing Stanley, Judge Giles Rooke, QC, said he had been caught red-handed in what was a commercial transaction. He said it was trafficking in the potential misery of those he brought. The court also ordered Stanley's tractor unit be confiscated.