Longer sentence for 'human' trafficker

The tanker Woop used to smuggle his cargo

A judge has raised the sentence on a "human" trafficker he had jailed after realising that parliament had increased the maximum penalty.

German lorry driver, Michael Woop, was initially jailed for five years for smuggling 35 Indians into the UK in the back of a sand tanker.

Judge Warwick McKinnon thought the longest possible sentence was seven years, but police officers pointed out that it was 10 years.

After reconsidering the case at Maidstone Crown Court, Judge McKinnon altered the sentence to six years.

Woop, 37, had admitted trafficking human cargo into the English zone of the Channel Tunnel at Calais on 20 February.

Inside the tanker

Judge McKinnon called Woop back into court and said: "It has been brought to my attention that the maximum sentence has already been changed but has not reached the court's reference works.

"It is a matter of regret that it was not pointed out to me immediately.

"I am minded to vary the sentence and I have power to do so for 28 days after sentence. The sentence will now be one of six years imprisonment."

Neville Willard, defending, objected to the increase, which occurred an hour after the original sentencing, but Judge McKinnon said his client had the right to appeal.

Driving ban

Earlier, when sentencing, Judge McKinnon said it was fortunate the lorry was stopped before a repeat of the recent tragedy in which 58 Chinese immigrants died while being smuggled into the UK.

Before the first sentencing he said: "You conveyed into this country, for financial profit, a human cargo of 35 human beings huddled together in quite appalling conditions of the close confines of that lorry.

"You played a key role, indeed you were an integral part of what was obviously a highly planned, sophisticated and organised operation."

Neville Willard, defending, said Woop had smuggled the immigrants in a bid to pay for asthma treatment that his wife needed.

Woop had pleaded guilty to one count of facilitating the entry of illegal immigrants into the UK. He was also banned from driving for five years.