Two Frenchmen who were paid to smuggle two Vietnamese people into the UK in the boots of their hire cars have been jailed.

Ange Clavery and Fousseynou Soumare squeezed a 24-year-old man and 19-year-old woman into zipped-up holdalls and put them in the back of the cars.

They then drove them onto a cross-Channel ferry from Cherbourg to Poole in Dorset as the pair attempted to smuggle them into the country.

However, Border Force officers stopped the two vehicles at the Port of Poole after noticing movement in the large sport holdalls in the rears of the vehicles.

The Vietnamese man was found hidden in Clavery’s vehicle, while the young woman was located in Soumare’s vehicle.

In the case of the woman, she had twice previously failed to apply for a student visa in the UK.

Both individuals claim to have been hired over Snapchat and Soumare, 20, admitted he was going to be paid £1,300 for getting her into the country.

Oliver Hirsch, prosecuting, said: ‘This was a planned offence using hired vehicles and one-way tickets.’

Soumare and Clavery, also 20, both admitted one offence of assisting illegal immigration.

Ange Clavery, 20, (pictured) and Fousseynou Soumare, 20, squeezed a 24-year-old man and 19-year-old woman into zipped-up holdalls and put them in the back of the cars. 

Soumare, 20, (pictured) admitted he was going to be paid £1,300 for getting her into the country.

Border Force officers stopped the two vehicles at the Port of Poole after noticing movement in the large sport holdalls in the rears of the vehicles

Speaking through an interpreter, Clavery told the judge: ‘I would like to say that I am sorry for having lied. I did not think straight.

‘It was the other way around. I did not do anything without the consent of the person who was in the back of my boot.

‘I profusely regret my stance. I was not aware it would not be so grave. I apologise.’

Kate Davies, defending Soumare, said: ‘Mr Soumare is remorseful, he wishes for me to reiterate just how terribly sorry he is and how much he regrets it.

‘He doesn’t make any justification. He took the opportunity to obtain some money for his family.

‘He was struggling financially and his partner had recently become pregnant.

‘He was naive to the consequences of what he was involved in.’

Judge Susan Evans KC said unlawful immigration was a ‘very serious problem’ and said it was ‘quite clear’ the defendants knew what they were doing.

She added: ‘It was plainly commercial and for profit. The people were strangers to you.

‘The Vietnamese nationals who were in the boots of your cars were in a very confined position, which is extremely concerning for their welfare.

‘Not only are you assisting individuals to effectively break into the UK against the laws of this country, but you also placed the Vietnamese individuals in danger by way of the manner in which they were transported and what might have become of them had they not been intercepted.’

Clavery was jailed for 24 months and Soumare, a student from Perigueux in France, was jailed in July for 22 months.