Man crams child into car boot in smuggling bid

Leon Lorenzo Leslie showed "total disregard" to the pair's safety, the Home Office said.

A man has been jailed for three years after cramming a woman and child into a car boot in a bid to smuggle them into the UK.

Border Force officers stopped Leon Lorenzo Leslie, 39, as he drove a hire car in Coquelles, France, in April last year.

Leslie, of Francis Road, in Edgbaston, Birmingham, had wedged a girl, 14, and a woman, 20, into the vehicle as he tried to transport them across The Channel.

He was arrested and later pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration into the UK.

The pair were wedged into a hire car in France

Leslie showed "total disregard" for the Vietnamese pair's safety after leaving them with little room to move or breathe, a Home Office spokesperson said.

"The sole priority of these criminals is financial gain, at the expense of those they exploit under false promises of a better life in the UK," they explained.

They added the Home Office would continue to "work tirelessly to clamp down on the people who heartlessly endanger vulnerable people to make money".

Leslie was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday.