A man has been found guilty of the manslaughter of four people after the boat he was piloting ran into difficulty in the English Channel.

Ibrahima Bah had offered to steer the dinghy in December 2022 in exchange for a free crossing.

He had claimed that he was forced by violent smugglers to make the journey with at least 43 other migrants

Bah had previously told the court he had changed his mind about piloting the boat to the UK when he arrived at the beach on the French coast and saw it was too small for the number of passengers.

Canterbury Crown Court

The home-built, low-quality inflatable should not have held more than 20 people. Bah claimed he was assaulted by smugglers and threatened with death if he did not go ahead with the crossing.

Specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service Libby Clark said: “Bah claimed that he had sailed boats before and, as a result, received free passage, whereas everyone else on the boat had paid thousands of euros to make the tragic journey. The boat he piloted was never designed to undertake a crossing in the world’s busiest shipping lane and would have been all but invisible to other ships.

"Navigation was carried out with just mobile phones as there were no other navigational aids available. There is no evidence to suggest that Bah had any training in piloting a boat like this or keeping people safe and, as the pilot, he assumed responsibility for ensuring the safety of his fellow passengers.

"Any reasonable person would have recognised that by piloting such an ill-equipped and overloaded boat in such dangerous circumstances, there was an obvious risk of serious harm to the passengers.

"As a result of Bah’s actions, four men tragically lost their lives in the Channel that night. Our thoughts remain with their families."