A man who attempted to drive a pregnant asylum seeker and her family from Italy into France faces up to 10 years in prison for “aiding illegal immigration”.

Felix Croft was giving out aid in the Italian border city of Ventimiglia in July when he met the woman, who was travelling with her husband, two children and uncle.

Like thousands of other refugees making the treacherous journey to Italy over the Mediterranean Sea, they had reached the French border but been blocked by a heavy police presence.

Italian police struggle to contain Ventimiglia migrants as French accused of foul play

Some reports said the family Mr Croft tried to help were Nigerian, while others said they were from the war-torn region of Darfur.

The 28-year-old told the RFI French public radio service he attempted to take the asylum seekers to his home in Vence because there was no space in the church where they attempted to find shelter, and was arrested while driving along the motorway.

His lawyer, Laura Martinelli, said her client admitted the facts of the case but gave the family a lift “for humanitarian reasons”, adding: “This is the first time that a person known to be a volunteer has been arrested, and that the arrest leads to prosecution [in Italy].”

She contended that the law was intended to target organised smugglers who charge migrants for their services, rather than for humanitarian volunteers. The next court hearing is due in Imperia on 16 February.

Another Frenchman, farmer Cédric Herrou, was arrested last month for helping migrants travel through the Roya Valley, near the Italian border in Provence.

The use of anti-smuggling legislation to target volunteers has proved a divisive move for some European countries during the ongoing refugee crisis.

Denmark’s High Court upheld a people smuggling conviction for a couple who illegally “assisted” family of Syrian refugees by giving them a lift and a cup of coffee in September.

Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.

Lisbeth Zornig Andersen, the former president of the Danish government’s National Council for Children, and her husband transported the group of four adults and two children from southern Denmark to Copenhagen during the height of the refugee crisis in 2015.

They did not believe they had contravened any law, as they had consulted police and stayed within the country, but were prosecuted under the Danish Aliens Act and fined 50,000 krone (£5,700).

Ms Zornig told The Independent the court was “setting an example” as numerous other people smuggling cases progress through the courts in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe.

National law is the primary reference for such cases but a 2002 directive from the Council of the European Union also stipulates that anyone who intentionally assists irregular migrants to “enter or transit across” a country in breach of national law can be prosecuted – particularly those who take payment to do so.

But it says that sanctions can be lifted in cases where “the aim of the behaviour is to provide humanitarian assistance”, although the waiver is optional.

A United Nations protocol on migrant smuggling, however, defines the act as exclusively motivated by a “financial or other material benefit”.