Ex-soldier cleared of smuggling girl, 4, to UK from Calais refugee camp

Immigration and asylum:  A retired British soldier who attempted to bring a four-year-old Afghan girl from the Calais refugee camp to the UK has vowed to continue his fight for the “teachers, doctors, lawyers of tomorrow” after a French court cleared him of people-smuggling.

Rob Lawrie was accused of illegally transporting a foreigner and stood trial in the northern town of Boulogne-sur-Mer on Thursday, four months after being arrested as he approached a ferry to the UK with a young refugee hidden in his van.

The 49-year-old was introduced to Bahar Ahmadi, nicknamed Bru, one night in October while visiting the refugee encampment known as the Jungle near the Channel crossing point. He told the court he made the “irrational and stupid decision” to smuggle her back to the UK after she fell asleep in his lap.

“She is a child. She’s four years old. She has family who live near me and I had bonded with her,” said the former serviceman, from Guiseley, Leeds. “It was a cold night. She had fallen asleep on my knee. I could not leave her there in a tent.”

Facing a maximum sentence of five years in prison if found guilty, Lawrie wept as he described how one “ill-thought-out” decision to help the young girl had cost him his health, family and business. He was ultimately cleared of the charge, and instead found guilty of the lesser allegation of endangering a child, and fined €1,000.

Speaking after the verdict, Lawrie, who had looked increasingly upset and agitated during the hearing, vowed to keep fighting to end the suffering of refugee children in the camps of France. He said: “Thank you France, thank you. Compassion was in the dock today, and compassion has won. I am ecstatically happy and I’m happy to have raised the profile of children like Bahar. I’m not going back to the Jungle today, but I will.

“We simply cannot leave these children in these camps. We either get them into our education system and have the teachers, doctors, lawyers of tomorrow, or we can leave them in the Jungle to rot and die of cold. I will carry on fighting for these children.” - Read More at the Guardian
Ex-soldier cleared of smuggling girl, 4, to UK from Calais refugee camp

Briton to appear in French court after trying to smuggle Afghan girl into UK