€1,000 fine for ex-UK soldier

A FORMER British soldier has appeared in court in France charged with aiding illegal immigration after he attempted to smuggle a four-year-old girl and two Eritrean men across the Channel to the UK.

Rob Lawrie, 49, from Guiseley, Leeds, said he had been unaware of the presence of the two men in his van but had agreed to take the girl across the border in what he termed “a moment of madness”.

He however admitted the charge and was fined €1,000 by the court.

Lawrie had been visiting the ‘Jungle’ migrant camp at Calais bringing supplies when he agreed with the girl’s father to bring her to live with their relatives near Leeds.

He was caught by British border police in Calais on October 25, 2015, when sniffer dogs detected the two men, and admitted that the Afghan girl was in the vehicle after he was arrested and led away.

He faces up to five years in prison and a maximum €30,000 fine if convicted at his trial which takes places in Boulogne-sur-Mer this afternoon.

More than 50,000 people have signed an online petition to the French authorities appealing for clemency.

Lawrie, a former Royal Corps of Transport soldier and father of four, said he had received messages of support from all over the world.