Skipper declares: 'I took no money from them'

Two Frenchmen who arrived at Brighton Marina with 20 illegal immigrants aboard, have been sentenced to prison at Hove Crown Court.

The pair chartered a 50ft yacht, Pelican, and sailed from Dieppe in June 2009 with the 20 ‘men and women of oriental or Chinese appearance’ on board.

Other yachtsmen at the marina noticed the mass exodus from the marina and CCTV footage shows a marina security guard following the group to a bus stop outside the marina.

The group tranferred to a train at Brighton train station, after which the two skippers returned to the marina where they were arrested two days later.

Enrique Figueroa, 46, was sentenced to six years, but said he had not been paid to transport anyone and had brought the people into the UK for humanitarian reasons. Nelson Bazin, 23, was sentenced to three and a half years but claimed he had not known about the human cargo until part way into the journey.

Watch security camera footage of immigrants walking out of Brighton Marina

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