Man jailed over illegal immigrants

A former show jumping champion from Germany has been jailed for 21 months at Belfast Crown Court for smuggling illegal immigrants into the United Kingdom.

Armin Hargarten, 43, from Delbruck in eastern Germany, was arrested when police at Larne, County Antrim, stopped the camper van he was driving onto a ferry bound for Scotland.

A search of the van revealed eight Punjabi Indians on their way to London.

On Thursday, Judge Corinne Philpott heard this was the first prosecution of its kind in Northern Ireland.

Force to retire

The court heard Hargarten had been chosen to represent West Germany at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, but because of the boycott was unable to take part.

He came seventh in the world showjumping championships held in Germany in 1986, but had since been forced to retire through injury.

Passing sentence, the judge said she took into account that the immigrants Hargarten was carrying had been well cared for at his own expense and that he was having a harsher time in custody than other prisoners might have.

But she said such offences must not be allowed to become prevalent in Northern Ireland.

She said: "As it becomes more difficult to get directly into England, such people will try to find routes to get in indirectly."

And she told Hargarten he was paying the full penalty while those who had involved him were not.