LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Five British immigration officers appeared in court on Thursday charged with misconduct in public office and conspiracy to steal from migrants who had arrived in Britain on small boats.
John Bernthal, 53, Ben Edwardes, 45, Lee-Ann Evanson, 42, Besmir Matera, 36, and Jack Mitchell, 33, are charged with stealing from migrants between August 2021 and November 2022.
All five are also charged with one count of misconduct in public office and one count of money laundering.
They sat in the dock at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court as prosecutor Rosalind Earis said the five worked on Britain’s south coast “dealing with recent arrivals on small boats across the Channel”.
The crossings of small boats carrying migrants from France, the most visible sign of arrivals, have become a focal point for British voters and has helped propel Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party into a commanding opinion poll lead.
Earis told the court that “many of these people arrive with relatively large sums of money in cash on their person”. When the defendants discovered this “they worked together to take that money for themselves and share it”, Earis added.
Matera is also charged with entering or remaining in Britain by deception and possession of three identity documents – a British passport and a full and provisional driving licences – in a false name.
Earis said Matera applied for asylum in 2003, claiming he was from Kosovo and had arrived in Britain in the back of a lorry. But, Earis said, Matera was from Albania and arrived in Britain on a school trip.
A sixth defendant, 43-year-old David Grundy, is only charged with one count of money laundering.
All six defendants were granted bail ahead of their next hearing at Southwark Crown Court in February. None were asked to enter pleas.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin)
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