EXCLUSIVE: GB News star ‘in tears’ over h0rror migrant crossing footage
GB News presenter Michelle Dewberry became emotional on air after watching distressing footage appearing to show a small child being left in the water during an attempted English Channel crossing.
The broadcaster discussed the video during her programme on Thursday, September 24, warning viewers beforehand that she had found the scenes deeply upsetting.
Dewberry said the footage had reduced her to tears when she first watched it earlier that morning.
“I want to play you a clip that I shall return to,” she told viewers. “I must warn you, this is very distressing. It actually made me cry when I watched it this morning.”
The footage emerged amid continuing debate over Channel crossings. Home Office provisional figures recorded 781 people arriving in 10 boats on September 23.
Dewberry Left Shaken by Footage
As the clip played, Dewberry described what she believed she was seeing.
She said a man appeared to be carrying a very young child, possibly a toddler, towards a crowded boat.
According to Dewberry’s account, the child appeared distressed before being left in the water while the man continued towards the vessel.
“This kid is clearly in distress, he’s not doing well at all,” she said.
“He just basically leaves the kid in the water, has a cursory look back and just boards the boat anyway.”
The presenter made clear that she did not know what relationship existed between the adult and the child shown in the footage.
Her description and interpretation of the video were based on what she observed while watching it on air.
‘Absolutely Heartbreaking’
Dewberry became increasingly emotional as she focused on the involvement of the child.
She argued that adults were able to make their own decisions about attempting the dangerous Channel journey, but said young children could not consent to being placed in such circumstances.
“The very fact that anyone would decide to take a little child, a baby, who cannot consent to any of this and take that child from the safety of France, yanking them through the waves and the choppy water like that to endanger that child’s life… absolutely sickens me,” she said.
Dewberry then described the moment involving the child as “absolutely heartbreaking”.
Her comments reflected her personal reaction to the footage rather than an independently established account of the circumstances surrounding the people shown.
Channel Crossings Remain Under Scrutiny
The clip aired during renewed scrutiny of small-boat crossings between France and the UK.
Official Home Office data defines small-boat arrivals as people detected after reaching Britain or intercepted in the Channel by UK authorities and subsequently brought to the UK. The daily figures are provisional and can later be revised.
For Dewberry, however, the wider political debate temporarily took second place to the image of a young child caught up in the dangerous journey.
She repeatedly returned to the child’s apparent vulnerability and said that was the element of the footage she found hardest to watch.
The presenter’s emotional reaction became the defining moment of the segment, with Dewberry admitting openly that seeing the video had made her cry before she even went on air.
Whatever the circumstances surrounding those pictured, her response highlighted once again the human risks involved when children are present during dangerous attempts to cross the English Channel.
