British man who claimed unknown people traffickers put four Albanians into his camper van while he went to McDonald’s is jailed for 15 months

• Oozy Hughes, 44, was stopped by police at Harwich Port in Essex in March 2018

A British man who claimed unknown people traffickers put four Albanian migrants into his camper van while he went into a McDonald’s branch has been jailed for 15 months. 

Oozy Hughes was stopped by police at Harwich Port in Essex on March 17, 2018, after taking the rented motorhome on a ferry arriving into the UK from the Hook of Holland. 

Hughes, 44, also known as Mark Newton, was arrested for facilitating illegal entry to the UK but when interviewed at Chelmsford Police station, he told officers he may have left his campervan unlocked while he visited a McDonald’s branch. 

He also told officers that he had hired the van to drive to Spain, and returned to the UK by ferry from Santander, Chelmsford Crown Court heard. 

But, police discovered a receipt from a casino in northern Belgium inside the van, showing he had been there earlier that day to participate in a ‘Fantastic Fridays’ competition to win a 100-gram gold bar. 

Hughes, 44, also known as Mark Newton, was arrested for facilitating illegal entry to the UK but when interviewed at Chelmsford Police station, he told officers he may have left his campervan unlocked while he visited a McDonald’s branc

The migrants were hiding in the back of the van, with one telling a Border Force officer a ‘black man had put them in the van’

GPS data from the campervan, which had been hired two days earlier, also proved it had travelled through Belgium to the Netherlands. A receipt for a fuel purchase made in Belgium and a parking ticket from Rotterdam were also uncovered. 

Home Office Criminal and Financial Investigation teams also obtained messages and call records from his phone. One message simply read: ‘Holland Casino’. 

Several calls had been made on the day of the smuggling attempt, including two to numbers the Home Office had linked to a Belgian people smuggling ring. 

Jeremy Hayes, prosecuting, told the court: ‘Four illegal immigrants were hiding in the van’.  

He added that one of them told a Border Force officer a ‘black man had put them in the van’. 

Mr Hayes told the court the telephone messages indicated Hughes’s role, which he argued was to bring migrants to the UK. 

Emma Akuwudike, mitigating, said Hughes had drug debts and a ‘long-standing addiction to Class A crack cocaine’. 

‘He thought this was at least a way he could pay part of his debts’, she said. 

Four Albanian migrants were found in the back of the campervan

Oozy Hughes was stopped by police at Harwich Port in Essex on March 17, 2018

‘The money was to be received once those people had come to the UK, he received absolutely nothing and has paid a very high price for his involvement.

‘He’s named the person who was at the helm of this offence’. 

She told the court Hughes was arrested and released under investigation in 2018, and that the Coronavirus pandemic had caused ‘a delay’ before the case came to court in 2021. 

He admitted his role in September this year ahead of a scheduled trial, admitting one count of assisting unlawful immigration.  

Hughes, of Catlyn Close in West Malling, Kent, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 months behind bars. He winked to his wife in the public gallery before being led to the cells. 

Sentencing, Judge Timothy Godfrey said to Hughes: ‘The sole purpose of your trip was to bring in at least one asylum seeker’.

Chris Foster, Deputy Director of Criminal and Financial Investigations at the Home Office, said: ‘Today’s sentencing follows a complex and long-running investigation by my officers who have worked hard to bring this investigation to a positive conclusion.

‘This criminal worked with organised gangs overseas in his attempt to exploit our border. I’m pleased to see that he has been brought to justice and grateful to my teams for their tireless work on this case.’

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