A London man has been jailed and banned from France after trying to help smuggle migrants across the Channel in a small boat.

Wayne Mills, 54, is the third person to be jailed after five Albanians were found on a boat that was about to leave the French port of Cherbourg.

The news comes as more migrants are believed to have tried to cross to the UK on Friday.

The coastguard said it is responding to “multiple incidents” off the coast of Kent.

Border Force vessels Seeker and Speedwell have also been active since the early hours of Friday morning.

Migrant Channel crossing incidents
Undated handout photo issued by the Prefecture maritime Manche et mer du Nord showing French authorities rescuing more migrants on Thursday evening after a record number reached UK shores (Prefecture/PA)

In French waters authorities rescued more than 40 migrants including six children and two people with disabilities.

At least 202 migrants managed to cross to Britain on Thursday in a surge of 20 boats – a single-day record.

More than 1,000 migrants have successfully made the crossing in July alone, analysis by the PA news agency reveals.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) announced today that London man Mills has been sentenced to four years in prison and given a 10-year ban from entering France.

Two other people, one of whom is British, were previously convicted and jailed in France after being arrested as they prepared to leave the French port of Cherbourg on June 27 in a small vessel with five Albanian migrants on board.

The boat had sailed to France from the Isle of Wight two days earlier.

Boat skipper Joshua Van Praagh, 25, from Portsmouth was jailed for three years and banned from returning to France for 10 years.

Albanian national Armando Hodo, 25, was jailed for three years and also banned from France.