Cousins posed as lovers as they tried to smuggle three people hiding under coats in a car into the UK.

Jamie and Danielle Estabrook, 36 and 33, told Border Force officers at the Channel Tunnel in Coquelles, France, that they were returning from Paris after touring potential wedding venues.

But when the SUV was searched, a five-year-old girl and her mother were found crammed in the rear footwell under a jacket.

Officers also discovered a man stowed in the boot of the rented Peugeot, during the search in January 2020.

Canterbury Crown Court heard on Thursday that Jamie recruited Danielle for a payment of £2,500 to be the “soft face” of the conspiracy.

Together with Kenan Parlakyildiz, 41, they plotted to bring the Turkish nationals in via the Folkestone outbound terminal.

The trio, who live in Essex, were jailed for a combined total of 11 years after admitting their roles in the people smuggling conspiracy before trial.

Judge Douglas Marks Moore said: “All three of you were involved here for financial gain. This is an offence that has been well organised and meticulously carried out."

The court heard their crimes included the collection of a mother and child, apparently in Paris, and another man thought to have been picked up around the Dunkirk area.

“The two were in the car itself, under coats, and the one individual was in the boot,” said the judge.

He branded their actions a “very serious offence” designed to reward criminal gangs and people smugglers.

Jamie and Parlakyildiz headed up the conspiracy, with Danielle enlisted to drive the Hertz-hired Peugeot 3008.

When Border Force officers quizzed the Estabrooks they said they were going to get married and had been looking for a suitable wedding venue.

After their vehicle was seized the pair claimed in interview they had no idea the people were inside their car, despite two being only about a foot away.

Jamie, who has 23 convictions and 63 offences including burglary and robbery, was handed four years' custody.

His barrister Jonathan Rosen said his offending stemmed from a drugs problem, which he has since addressed.

Parlakyildiz, of previous good character, was jailed for four years and Danielle, also of previous good character, was handed three years.

"Everybody here was in it for the money..."

Parlakyildiz's lawyer Emma-Louise Heath said he had lost family members in the recent Turkey earthquakes and did not plan to make money from the smuggling bid, prompting a terse exchange from the judge.

“My inference is everybody here was in it for the money,” he said.

Kerry Waitt, mitigating for Danielle, who is pregnant and will give birth in custody, said: "My client played an instrumental, an important role in this conspiracy, but whatever her importance or significance, she is subservient to the two co-defendants.

"She was recruited at a vulnerable time when she had recently come out of hospital and her income had depleted.

"To this day she has regretted her stupidity in allowing herself to become involved."