Married couple joined people smuggling ring to pay off debts

Nicholas and Pamela Fullwood were caught trying to smuggle two Iraqis hidden inside furniture

A husband and wife who joined a people smuggling ring to pay off debts have been sentenced.

Nicholas and Pamela Fullwood admitted trying to smuggle two Iraqi men hidden inside furniture in 2019.

Mr Fullwood was also stopped by French authorities in December 2018 after hiring a van and trying to bring in five people.

They were sentenced with a third defendant, Azad Ahmadi, at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday.

Mr Fullwood was jailed for three years

Mr Fullwood, 48, was sentenced to three years in prison, while 45-year-old Mrs Fullwood was handed a two-year suspended sentence, after both pleaded guilty before a trial to conspiracy to assist with unlawful immigration.

Ahmadi, 31, of Westgreen Avenue in Derby, had pleaded not guilty to the same offence but was convicted following a trial last year, and was sentenced to four years and six months.

Azad Ahmadi was "at the head of" the operation, the court heard

Francis Lloyd, prosecuting, told the court Mr Fullwood hired a van and attempted to bring five Iraqi nationals to the UK in December 2018, but was stopped by the French authorities.

He and his wife, from Wingfield Road, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, were later caught trying to smuggle two Iraqis hidden inside furniture inside another hired van while their daughter, then aged 13, travelled with them.

Ahmadi was the "paymaster" of the scheme, Mr Lloyd told the court, transferring £4,280 into the Fullwoods' bank account.

'Repulsive trade'

Sentencing, Recorder Michael Turner said Ahmadi was "at the head of" the operation, adding there "was an element of desperation" in Mr Fullwood's involvement.

"I know you were threatened by a loan shark you borrowed money from, but at the end of the day your offending cannot be excused," he said of the latter.

Addressing Mrs Fullwood - who the court heard had suffered from cancer and is due to have a preventative operation in March - he added: "You were involved in this conspiracy out of a misguided sense of loyalty to your husband."

Following the sentencing, minister for immigration Robert Jenrick said: "We are determined to bring to justice the criminal gangs that undertake the repulsive trade of people-smuggling."