A people smuggler who tried to bring four children into the UK has been jailed.

Marius Boneu, who hid them in a van on the way to the Channel Tunnel, was sentenced to four-an-a-half years on Wednesday.

He was caught on June 3, 2017, after Border Forced officers, based at the UK controls in Coquelles, France, searched the British-registered Ford Transit.

Officers asked Bone to open the rear of the van which contained a spare wheel, some beer and a metal strongbox.

Hidden behind the strongbox they found four boys aged between 10 and 15 from Afghanistan.

Boneu, a Romanian national, was arrested and the case passed to Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) officers.

He denied any knowledge of the children, who were afterwards passed into the care of French authorities.

Boneu claimed he owned a business in Harrow in London and was travelling back to the UK after visiting family in Romania.

He said he had stopped at a petrol station near the Belgian and French border and slept in the van.

He suggested that this was where the four may have got inside without his knowledge.

Boneu was released under investigation while CFI enquiries continued.

Forensic examination of Boneu’s mobile phone showed a saved third party number that matched a number on a screenshot found on the phone of one of the boys.

He was charged with the attempted facilitation on September 5, 2017.

Boneu’s trial was initially scheduled for January this year, but he failed to appear.

In May, he was arrested by Border Force officers at Luton Airport, as he was returning to the UK, and remanded in custody.

Boeau, 47, of Eliot Drive, Harrow, was found guilty of assisting unlawful immigration on Wednesday after a two-day trial at Canterbury Crown Court.

David Fairclough, assistant director at CFI, said after the sentencing: “Boneu has gone to great lengths to evade justice, first insisting that he had no knowledge of the group hidden inside his van and then failing to attend court for his initial trial date. His feigned ignorance was disproved by the work of my officers uncovering phone evidence linking him to the boys and his attempts to avoid his day in court were prevented by the diligence of the Border Force officers at Luton.

“Boneu’s not guilty plea means his motives remain unclear, but there is no doubt about the vulnerability of the people he was attempting to smuggle into the UK.

“My teams rigorously investigate immigration related criminality and this case should serve as a warning to anyone tempted to get involved with this kind of offending. We will catch you, and put you before the courts.”

Nick Drinkal, deputy director of Border Force South East and Europe said: “Border Force works in close partnership with other UK and French law enforcement agencies to secure the border in northern France, the result of which is that it is one of the most secure in Europe.

“We will continue to work to ensure that people smugglers and traffickers, whose actions so often put the lives of others at risk, face the full consequences of their crimes.”

Anyone with information about suspected immigration abuse can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 anonymously or visit the website crimestoppers-uk.org