Harwich port: People-smugglers Erick and Sergei Isaak jailed

Border officials at Harwich port found seven people in a rented van

A father and son have been jailed for three years after trying to smuggle seven people into the UK in a van.

Erick, 26, and Sergei Isaak, 49 of Hattingen in Germany, were arrested at the port of Harwich, Essex, in 2015 after X-rays showed the group huddled behind insulation blocks.

The pair said they were delivering to a Suffolk business and were unaware of the people hiding in the rented van.

They were jailed at Ipswich Crown Court after admitting an immigration offence.

The pair were arrested on 18 November 2015 when the Afghan nationals were found inside a 4ft (1.2m) gap. They included two teenage boys and their parents, and another two men and a woman.

Arrest warrant issued

The court was shown a photograph of insulation panels stacked nearly to the top of the van, with seven people huddled together behind the pallets.

The Isaaks said they were paid €1,000 (£845) each for a delivery to a business in Woodbridge but they had not loaded the van and "did not know" there were people inside.

Both men skipped bail following their arrest and a European arrest warrant was issued in May 2019.

Their defence said they didn't know the original bail date and didn't get any letters from the Home Office.

Judge Rupert Overbury dismissed their claims as "dubious in the extreme".

They were returned to the UK in November 2019 and, at a hearing on 6 January, admitted facilitating the commission of a breach of UK immigration law by a non-EU person.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Overbury said: "Those who deliberately facilitate the evasion of our country's border controls and bring in foreign nationals substantially risk the security of UK citizens."