UK jails teen asylum seeker for steering overcrowded Channel migrant boat

Chan Mathok Atak, a 19-year-old asylum seeker from South Sudan, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison by Canterbury Crown Court for steering an overcrowded dinghy carrying 165 migrants across the English Channel. On July 23, 2026, he piloted the boat for at least 90 minutes, which had only one working engine and lacked navigation equipment. Although there was no evidence he organized the crossing, the judge deemed his actions serious enough to warrant an immediate custodial sentence.