A JUDGE has ordered a fact-finding hearing to decide what role an Albanian man played in a people smuggling scheme to bring eight illegal migrants to Devon on a yacht.

Indrit Barhani was arrested on shore close to where the 27-foot Sea Crystal was wrecked as its skipper and mate tried to reach Teignmouth from France.

The migrants were packed into the small yacht and were terrified they were going to be drowned when it was forced ashore at Horse Cove, Teignmouth, during a storm last December.

Skipper James Wisbey and crew Faye Miles have already been jailed for their part in the scheme and Barhani has also admitted conspiracy to break immigration rules.

He has entered a basis of plea which downplays his role, which the prosecution rejects, and a special hearing at Exeter Crown Court will take place on November 8 to settle the issue.

Barhani, aged 33, of London, says he merely passing on messages to Wisbey from Albanian gangsters who were controlling the operation from Belgium.

The prosecution say he recruited Wisbey and was the middle man who organised contact between him and the gang in Belgium to arrange his ill-fated voyage.

Wisbey, aged 55, of West Hoe, Plymouth, and Miles, aged 38, of no fixed address, Plymouth, admitted conspiracy to break immigration rules. He was jailed for five years, four months, and Miles for two years at an earlier hearing at Exeter in July.

Judge Timothy Rose ordered a fact finding process called a Newton Hearing to be held on November 8, probably to be followed by sentence.

The final journey of the Sea Crystal was tracked by police and the Borders Agency as the overloaded and poorly maintained boat floundered off the Devon coast.

It was filmed by a police helicopter and drone as it approached the coast with eight terrified Albanians aboard.

The footage shows the underpowered sailing boat struggling through heavy seas under engine alone and with the sails furled.

Other images show the basic conditions in the cabin and for’ard double berth in which the eight migrants were crammed during the highly dangerous voyage from France.

Immigration officials and police waited at the top of cliffs at Horse Cove, Teignmouth as the terrified, hungry and bedraggled migrants staggered ashore.

They used body cams to film them as they asked for water and food and told officers they had paid 20,000 euros apiece for the illegal voyage.

The eight passengers clambered ashore on a small beach and crossed the main Paddington to Penzance railway line before climbing a cliff path.

Wisbey and paid crewwoman Faye Miles were both arrested on the beach, where he joked ‘next time I’ll do it properly and not take any short cuts’.

There were no lifejackets and minimal safety equipment about the yacht which had just one double sleeping berth, a small saloon, and a single marine toilet.

Police found no evidence that the migrants had any access to food or water during the voyage. One of them had tried to call for help shortly before the shipwreck but Wisbey could be heard telling them to hang up and grabbing the phone.

Judge Rose branded Wisbey’s behaviour as cynical, appalling and unforgiveable as he jailed him in July.

He told Wisbey: ‘You placed your passengers in great danger. You did it for money and personal reward in cynical and very dangerous circumstances.

‘Your motivation was purely financial. These were strangers and there was no humanitarian dimension to this whatsoever.

‘I am quite satisfied you played an extremely important role in these arrangements. You were the one providing transport and taking all the risks with other people’s lives.

‘You had an important and critical role in endangering the lives of yourself, Miles, and the hapless passengers.

‘You were not involved in making the arrangements, but the fact you were prepared to engage in the way you did in this appalling offence was unforgiveable and requires a deterrent sentence.’