A second man, Afghan national Tajik Mohammed, was given a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to piloting a vessel across the Channel during poor weather conditions in January.

It makes causing or risking the death or serious injury of a person at sea in a small boat a crime, a law designed to target people in charge of vessels which have illegally carried more than 200,000 people to the UK since 2018.

In the case of Ali, 26, the boat was so full people could be seen clinging onto the edges, some with their legs dangling in the water. Many of those on board during the 9 April crossing were not wearing life jackets.

French officials previously said two men and two women drowned off the coast of northern France while trying to get into the boat, but British prosecutors now accept he was not responsible for those deaths.

Ali’s barrister said there had been “misreporting” around those deaths, which had resulted in “severe repercussions” for his client. He accused the National Crime Agency of “wrongly informing the media” Ali was culpable.

The court was told Ali fled Sudan in 2019 after his village was targeted by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, an armed group which has been involved in bloody fighting for more than a decade.

Tajik’s barrister described how his client witnessed his father and brother being shot dead by Taliban gunmen in Afghanistan 10 years ago, after they refused to poison soldiers who visited their family restaurant.

Fearing being targeted by the Taliban himself, he fled and first sought asylum in Greece, where his application was rejected. He then travelled through Europe to France, from where he intended to reach the UK.

Neither men were accused of organising a crossing, nor did they make any profit from piloting their boats. Ali, the court heard, said he was ordered to steer by armed smugglers in France.

Speaking to BBC News prior to Wednesday’s sentencing, CPS prosecutor Sarah Dineley said of Tajik: “The people who pilot these boats generally have little or no experience of piloting a boat, let alone crossing one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

“I think what’s important for people to understand is that these boats are completely invisible to other craft in the Channel, particularly cross-channel ferries, and that obviously puts people’s lives at danger.”

She added: “I anticipate that over the coming summer months, given that there is pent-up demand for crossings, we will see that endangerment is being charged more frequently, and I think we will see an increased number of convictions.”

Sentencing Tajik, the judge noted that the Afghan national let go of the tiller as rescuers arrived, which resulted in the boat spinning around, further increasing the threat to those on board.

The judge said both men had “arguable” grounds to make an asylum claim, but it will be for the Home Office to decide whether they can remain in the country at a later date. It is not clear whether either could be deported due to the circumstances in their home countries.

As he delivered the first sentences under this new legislation, the judge criticised the Sentencing Council, the body responsible for issuing instructions to judges, for failing to publish definitive guidelines on how offences of this kind should be punished.