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| Former British judo champion jailed for attempting to smuggle Albanian asylum seekers into UK | Former British judo champion jailed for attempting to smuggle Albanian asylum seekers into UK |
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| A former judo champion who represented Great Britain has been jailed for attempting to smuggle Albanian migrants into the UK. | A former judo champion who represented Great Britain has been jailed for attempting to smuggle Albanian migrants into the UK. |
| Robert Stilwell, 33, and 35-year-old Mark Stribling were jailed for more than four years at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday after admitting the offence. | |
| The pair were caught after when inflatable boat had to be rescued off the coast of Kent in May after it started to sink. | |
| Judge Jeremy Carey said tragedy was averted “by a whisker” thanks to a large scale operation by the RNLI and Coastguard. | |
| "This case shows the best and the worst of human characteristics,” he told the court. | |
| "On the part of the rescue services, a real and conspicuous devotion to duty and at considerable risk to themselves. | |
| "On your part, greed, recklessness and deceit and the desire to get easy money. | |
| "In the event, there was a rescue and those who were rescued should be very grateful, as you should be to those who came to your aid. A tragedy was averted by a whisker." | |
| Their vessel was towed to Dover, where those on board were met by Border Force officials and police. | |
| Stilwell and Stribling were due to be paid £2,000 to travel to the French coast near Calais and transport the Albanian migrants – who had paid £6,000 each for the treacherous crossing. | |
| The asylum seekers - 15 men, one woman and two children - had waded into the water before climbing on board the white rigid inflatable boat (rib) on the evening of 28 May. | |
| But the boat lost power when it reached around one-and-a-half miles from shore and started to sink. | |
| Stribling, of Hilltop Farm, Farningham, was jailed for four years and eight months and Stilwell, of Stanley Close, Greenhithe, was sentenced to four years and four months in prison. | |
| Stilwell represented Great Britain in Commonwealth and European judo championships, winning several medals. | |
| He appeared stunned by the sentence and mouthed ”Tell them I love them“ as he was taken from the dock, while Stribling smirked. | |
| Additional reporting by PA |