French woman jailed for aiding smuggler son

Christiane Chocat, 51, a councillor in her home town of Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux in France, was charged with concealing 16 Vietnamese immigrants inside a vehicle which arrived on board a ferry at Portsmouth ferryport in Hampshire on October 1 last year.

She pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court last month to the offence of assisting unlawful entry into a European Member State, contrary to section 25(1) and (6) of the Immigration Act 1971.

Her son, Benjamin Chocat, 20, of Choisy-Le-Roi, France, also pleaded guilty to the same offence.

The mother and son brought a hire van on the Normandy Express ferry from Cherbourg with 16 Vietnamese nationals inside.

Officials found the 13 men and three women hidden behind boxes of shrimp noodles. They were detained by Hampshire Police and the UK Border Agency who returned them to France the same evening.

The court heard Chocat agreed to smuggle the illegal immigrants into the UK for a payment of 24,000 euros and his mother helped him out of a "misguided loyalty".

Immigration officers at Portsmouth Continental Ferryport became suspicious when they saw condensation droplets on the inside roof of the van. The hidden immigrants were aged between 15 and mid-30s.

Chocat told police in interview his mother had not known anything about the immigrants in the van and had not heard any noise made by them because she had been listening to a MP3 player.

But Martyn Booth, prosecuting, said Mrs Chocat told police she had not been listening to music and had since admitted knowing they were there.

Mother and son carried out an almost identical voyage to the UK in a hired van just a month before they were arrested, Mr Booth said.

"The Crown do not seek to create any suggestion about what that previous trip was about but all the Crown do is take a 'raised eyebrow' position – it may have been a dummy run, we cannot say with any degree of certainty."

Michael McGoldrick, representing Benjamin Chocat, said he carried out the smuggling run because he was in financial difficulties after losing his job.

His client, who had no previous convictions, felt "heartache" for getting his mother, who was also of good character, involved.

He said: "He accepts his motivation was financial reward, pure and simple.

"He needed a driver and he asked his mother to get involved and, not surprisingly, as a devoted mother she became involved."

Daniel Riley, representing Mrs Chocat, said: "She is described as a woman who never thinks of herself and would do everything for others and that has worked against her in this instance as a weakness."

He added that she had limited knowledge and involvement in the plan. "It is something she is genuinely and unquestionably sorry for. She is a proud lady."

Sentencing Christiane Chocat, Judge Roger Hetherington said: "Your motive appears to be a totally misguided sense of loyalty to your son."

Judge Hetherington told Benjamin Chocat he could have expected a sentence of eight years if he had been older.