UK jails South Sudanese asylum seeker over dangerous Channel crossing

A 19-year-old asylum seeker from South Sudan has been sentenced in the United Kingdom to two years and three months after admitting that he endangered people during a Channel crossing from France.

Chan Mathok Atak was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court for his role in steering a small boat that carried 165 people towards England on July 23. Prosecutors said he was believed to be one of two people who took turns piloting the vessel.

Unsafe crossing

The court heard that Atak steered the roughly 14-metre dinghy for at least 90 minutes. The boat was carrying 31 children aged between 14 and 17, according to prosecutors.

Evidence presented to the court indicated that the vessel had only one working engine and lacked navigation and first-aid equipment. It was also deflating and slowly taking on water before being intercepted by the UK Border Force.

The crossing was the largest recorded at the time for a single small boat in the English Channel. That record was later exceeded in August by another boat carrying 230 people.

The case was brought under a UK law introduced in January that targets people who steer boats when their actions put passengers’ lives at risk. The offence is separate from older charges, including assisting unlawful immigration.

Court warning and defence response

Judge Sarah Counsell said the offence was sufficiently serious to warrant an immediate prison sentence. She also warned Atak that he could face automatic deportation after completing his term.

“Only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified,” Counsell said during sentencing.

The court was not presented with evidence that Atak had organised the crossing. His lawyer, Audrey Mogan, also said there was no evidence connecting him to the boat’s overcrowding or its lack of safety equipment.

Mogan described the absence of such evidence as “not a single shred of evidence” linking her client to those conditions.

The prosecution case, as summarised in court, focused on Atak’s alleged role in piloting the dinghy rather than establishing that he arranged the journey or controlled the conditions on board.

Government crackdown

The sentencing forms part of the British government’s broader effort to prosecute people involved in dangerous small-boat crossings. The first convictions under the new law took place in June, when an Afghan national and a Sudanese national were each jailed for at least two years in similar cases.

Home Office Minister Anna Turley said people who risk passengers’ lives by bringing migrants to British shores on dangerous small boats would face justice.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has described the level of Channel crossings as “unacceptable” and said addressing the issue would require “long-term, careful, painful work”.

The source report said tens of thousands of people attempt the Channel crossing each year. It also reported that government figures showed the number of people crossing into the UK since January had fallen compared with 2025, although it did not provide the figures.