HUMAN rights campaigners condemned the government today after a Star investigation found that the Home Office paid up to £1 billion for drone surveillance of the English Channel last year — despite the fact no-one evaded the British coastguard.

HM Coastguard told the Star in response to a freedom of information (FOI) request that a total of 8,319 people attempted to cross the Channel in 2020.

With the Channel being one of the busiest and most closely watched shipping lanes in the world, nobody evaded the coastguards, went missing or drowned in English waters last year, service figures show — though four people did die and a 15-month-old boy went missing in French jurisdiction last October.