Iraqi terrorist who came to UK illegally on small boat jailed for two years

He was detained by Immigration Enforcement after arriving at Dover and appeared at Thanet Magistrates' Court on September 23.

During the court appearance, Hamad pleaded guilty to attempting to arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance.

The 48-year-old, who was sentenced earlier today at Canterbury Crown Court, was told any prison term should reflect that he had come to the UK illegally for a second time and had been convicted of very serious offences in Italy.

Hamad first came to the UK in 2001 and was initially granted indefinite leave to remain.

However, Hamad was convicted in his absence by an Italian court of terrorism offences and was extradited to Italy to serve his sentence in 2020.

He was told to leave Italy after seeing out his sentence, later applying for a visa before paying £1,000 to cross the Channel on a small boat.

The small boat was intercepted by an RNLI lifeboat off the coast of Dover.

Hamad declined to comment when he was interviewed by officers at Margate police station a few days later.

Peter Cockrill from the CPS said: “Rebwar Hamad showed a blatant disregard for immigration rules by coming to the UK illegally for a second time and after serving a prison sentence for terrorism offences in Italy.

“The CPS argued in court that for these reasons he should receive the toughest sentence possible.

“The Crown Prosecution Service will continue to work tirelessly with law enforcement and international partners, including the Border Security Command, to disrupt people smuggling networks and bring those who profit from this exploitative trade to justice.”

However, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has previously warned terror suspects have been managing to embark on the 21-mile journey across the Channel.

He said: “In the year before I was immigration minister, more than a dozen known terror suspects crossed the Channel on small boats. By now, that figure is well into the dozens.

“These are people our security services identified as known quantities, threats to our communities, with links to Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. And they waltzed right in.”

Earlier this year, Sir Keir Starmer compared his pledge to tackle the small boats crisis to his commitment to clamp down on Islamic terrorists.

Speaking ahead of the UK’s first global summit on organised immigration crime in March, the Prime Minister said: “This vile trade exploits the cracks between our institutions, pits nations against one another and profits from our inability at the political level to come together.

“When I was the Director of Public Prosecutions, we worked across borders throughout Europe and beyond to foil numerous plots, saving thousands of lives in the process.

"We prevented planes from being blown up over the Atlantic and brought the perpetrators to justice.

“I believe we should treat organised immigration crime in the same way. I simply do not believe organised immigration crime cannot be tackled.

"We’ve got to combine our resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people smuggling routes.”

However, small boats have continued to cross the Channel under Labour's watch, with more than 39,000 this year already being the second-worst year on record.