7 Nigerian men who sparked a major security incident off the coast of the Isle of Wight, which involved Special Forces being deployed by helicopter, will face no further action.
Hampshire Constabulary has confirmed that all 7 men, including 2 who had previously been charged and had appeared in court, will not be prosecuted.
Island Echo was one of the first news websites in the world to reveal the events of Sunday 25th October as the Nave Andromeda sat just off Ventnor. Later that day, the Special Boat Service conducted a nighttime raid on the ship and seized control to bring the incident to an end.
25-year-old Matthew John Okorie and 22-year-old Sunday Sylvester, who were both remanded and next due to appear at Southampton Crown Court on 29th January, have been released from custody for the offence of conduct endangering ships under Section 58 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. The 5 other men, who were arrested on suspicion of seizing or exercising control of a ship by use of threats or force, will also now face no further action.
However, the group will remain detained under immigration powers.
The decision not to prosecute was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service after additional evidence came to light as part of the investigation. They have not stated what the additional evidence is.
Senior District Crown Prosecutor, Sophie Stevens, said:
“The CPS has a duty to keep all cases under continuous review and after additional maritime expert evidence came to light, we concluded there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction and discontinued the case.”
UPDATE @ 21:40 – The Crown Prosecution Service has detailed how they came to the decision to take no further action against the 7 individuals.
Joanne Jakymec, Chief Crown Prosecutor, has said:
“On Sunday 25 October 2020 a distress signal was sent from the Nave Andromeda oil tanker once it had reached UK waters. At an earlier stage in the journey seven stowaways had made themselves known to the captain and crew and the vessel made unsuccessful attempts to dock in other jurisdictions. Initial accounts provided to UK authorities suggested that the crew had been threatened.
“Following the intervention of the British armed forces seven men were arrested. An investigation followed into exactly what had taken place during the course of the ship’s journey. The suspects were bailed by Hampshire police and held in immigration detention facilities whilst the investigation continued.
“The CPS was asked to make a decision on 24 December 2020 as to whether any charges could be brought because two of the men were due to be released from immigration detention and posed a flight risk. As a result the decision to charge these two men was made on the threshold test.
“The threshold test is used when a full file of evidence is not yet available but the seriousness of the case justifies an immediate decision and there are reasonable grounds to believe that continuing the investigation will provide evidence that would give a realistic prospect of conviction.
“We assessed the available evidence and considered a range of possible offences including attempting to exercise control of a ship, making threats to kill and destroying or endangering the safety of ships.
“As part of this review we had to consider witness accounts, where the offences happened, and preliminary advice from a maritime expert.
“We took the decision, based upon everything we knew at the time, to charge two men with the offence of conduct endangering ships under s.58 Merchant Shipping Act 1995.
“However, while initial reports had indicated there was a risk of destruction or serious damage to the ship and risk of harm to the crew, additional mobile phone footage made available to us by the police subsequently, together with further expert analysis of the evidence, cast doubt on whether the ship or the crew were in fact put in danger.
“As the evidence, when made available and fully considered, could not show that the ship or crew were threatened while in UK waters, the legal test for the offence of conduct endangering ships under s.58 Merchant Shipping Act 1995 was no longer met and we discontinued the case.”
The evidence
On 24th December 2020 police approached the CPS with a partial file of evidence asking for charges to be considered against two suspects. The same day two men were charged with the offence of conduct endangering ships under s.58 Merchant Shipping Act 1995.
As part of the initial decision to charge on the threshold test and subsequent review of the case once further evidence was available, prosecutors considered:
- Witness accounts – Initial accounts had suggested the crew had been threatened by the suspects but when they were formally interviewed, members of the crew said they had not been endangered or threatened.
- Location – There was some suggestion that threats may have been made but this had occurred outside of UK waters which are out of our jurisdiction.
- Maritime expert report – After assessing a number of factors to determine whether the vessel was endangered, the expert highlighted a number of areas that ultimately cast doubt on whether the ship or crew were put in danger by the actions of the stowaways.
The decision
Offences considered by the CPS included:
- Hijacking – There was no evidence to indicate the stowaways had any intention to seize control of the vessel, so it was not possible to pursue a charge of attempting to exercise control of a ship.
- Threats to kill – Witness accounts did not indicate there had been threats to kill.
- Destroying or endangering the safety of ships – Initial accounts suggested that the vessel may have been endangered in line with the legislation for this offence. However, further witness statements combined with the expert maritime report revealed inconsistencies with this assertion. As the evidence could not show the ship or crew were endangered, the legal test for the offence of conduct endangering ships under s.58 Merchant Shipping Act 1995 was no longer met.
In light of the above, the CPS concluded there was no longer a realistic prospect of a conviction for the offence of conduct endangering ships under s.58 Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and discontinued the case.
Looks like they got what they wanted. Probably be released on bail and then disappear. Disgraceful.
Now for the next lot to do the same knowing that they will getaway with it.
What is the additional evidence CPS???
The public have a right to know if justice has been exoursted or implemented, however, i feel the CPS are a little economic with the truth.
Yes it would be good to know and to see if things have improved since Starmer left ?
And what sort of message does this send out?
so they will be coming to live over here then. Shocking
‘Woke’ Britain
I wonder how much that incident cost the taxpayer?
What a waste!
Good news, welcome to our Nigerian brothers.
Time you paid them a visit for a change, take a holiday in Nigeria the weather’s lovely…
LoL, are you really that thick that you can’t see he’s trolling. Instead of calling yourself ‘Truth’ try ‘Thick’
LoL, perhaps you should join him, people like that are just up your street…LoL…
Good to see that this sovereign nation has taken back control.
Now kept, along with all their clones, for the rest of eternity, in and out of jails, and ruining more lives. ‘They’ who like Voldemort can now no longer be mentioned in our own country unless in a positive way.
What a sick society the media and free speech has now become.
And that’s why the country is in the state it is. Disgrace.
So it now appears they weren’t in danger at all! What a farce and a very expensive one at that. Should have left them to deal with it on their own! They probably paid the crew to get here.
I’m a white man, if i were to take over a wight link ferry, where in the hell do you think I’d end up???
One can only hope that now the Home Office no longer faces the headache of prosecuting these illegal immigrants for piracy and then the trouble of keeping them in jail the powers that be can concentrate their efforts on deporting them ASAP.
Should have been prosecuted for piracy at sea and deported.
These people are all criminals because they have come here illegally. They should be deported with immediate effect. Why should they jump the queue of those with legitimate claims. And what possible justification is there for them to receive taxpayers money past or present? The legal profession and the do-gooders that support them are tearing at the bowels of our very civilisation.
So what we thinking then? Paid the crew to get them into uk waters then send an alert , they get picked up and plead they are asylum seekers hey presto they get to live in the uk at our expense.