Devon: Shipwrecked people smugglers jailed

James Wisbey and Faye Miles were jailed for conspiring to break immigration rules

A people smuggler has been jailed after his yacht ran aground with eight Albanians on board.

James Wisbey tried to bring the migrants across the English Channel from France through gales last December but the boat was wrecked off Devon.

Wisbey, 55, of West Hoe, Plymouth, and accomplice Faye Miles, 38, of no fixed address, admitted conspiracy to break immigration rules.

He was jailed for five years and four months, and Miles for two years.

Exeter Crown Court heard Wisbey stayed in contact with Albanian organiser Indrit Barhani and received a £1,000 down payment before he set off.

He arrived in France on 12 December and was in the Channel with the migrants on his 27ft (8.2m) vessel by the morning of 14 December, but he beached at Horse Cove, Teignmouth, at 16:11 GMT.

Coastguards had been monitoring the boat and Wisbey and Miles were arrested on the beach, where he joked "next time I'll do it properly and not take any short cuts".

The yacht beached at a cove between Teignmouth and Dawlish in Devon

The eight passengers scrambled ashore, across the main Paddington to Penzance railway line and up a cliff, where they were arrested.

The court heard they had paid 20,000 euros but were not given food or water, causing them to be "hungry, dehydrated and terrified".

A video taken inside the boat showed it was in very basic condition with no space for the passengers to sleep.

Judge Timothy Rose described Wisbey's actions as "cynical, appalling and unforgiveable" as he jailed him at Exeter Crown Court.

Barhani, 32, of London, will be sentenced on 24 September, if a dispute about his role in the scheme can be resolved.

He admitted conspiracy to breach the Immigration Act when he appeared in court in April.