Mr Justice Sweeney told the defendants jailed for manslaughter they would serve two-thirds of the term in custody, instead of the usual half. [83][6] Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said that she was "shocked and saddened by this utterly tragic incident", and that Immigration Enforcement were working with the Essex Police. "[53], On 17 April 2020, a 42-year-old man from Tottenham was charged with an immigration offence related to the deaths. Maurice Robinson, 26, the lorry driver from Northern Ireland who collected the container containing the 39 people from the port in Essex in October 2019, and also pleaded guilty last year to manslaughter and people-smuggling, was sentenced to 13 years and four months. The deaths have been a wake-up call for police. [66] He was remanded in custody until 13 December when he appeared in court, via a video link from Belmarsh Prison in London where he was being held until his trial. Witness X described how he was ushered on to the back of the trailer at a rendezvous point in northern France. The red and white lorry is pictured at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, surrounded by forensic teams. [94][95][96] "I want to come back to my family. Relatives said the victims had hoped to take up work in restaurants and nail bars in Britain, and planned to send their earnings home to help support their families. He was described as an organiser for the people-trafficking organisation, arranging accommodation and transit for money. He called us all the time. [49][50] In February 2020 five men and two women were charged in Vietnam with "organising or broking others to flee abroad or stay abroad illegally". We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Who was Ukrainian minister Denys Monastyrsky? On 23 October 2019 we were called to a scene that no officer could ever have prepared for. Investigations revealed that they suffocated to death in 38 degrees in the refrigerated container, where all the oxygen was sucked out. Many of their families borrowed heavily to fund their passage, relying on their potential future earnings once they got into the UK. Read about our approach to external linking. The crime scene is just a short distance from intu Lakeside shopping centre and the M25 Dartford Crossing. [69] The counsel for the state pointed out that the 39 people died after the trailer had entered the UK and that it was nonsensical to suggest their deaths had occurred anywhere other than the UK. Read about our approach to external linking. Emailwebnews@trinitymirror.com. His boss, Hughes, had messaged him: "Give them air quickly don't let them out.". During the trial, jurors were given a snapshot of the victims - who included a bricklayer, a university graduate and a nail bar technician - and their dreams of a better life. They had been promised safe passage to our shores and they were lied to. "I didn't take my eyes off the lorry while I was on the [999] call.". The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Police were called at 5am. [38] After extended questioning, on 26 October Essex Police charged the driver they had arrested with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering. The trailer had been shipped from the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium, to Purfleet, Essex, UK, and the lorry cab and its driver are believed to have originated from Northern Ireland. Chilling records of his call revealed his unnervingly calm revelation of the dead bodies to the ambulance service. A teenager's body was among the 39 discovered in the HGV at around 1.40am. [59], On 15 December 2020, a Vietnamese man who was believed to have been involved in transporting 10 of the 39 migrants from a safehouse in Anderlecht was arrested in Redditch by National Crime Agency officers on a European Arrest Warrant issued by a Belgian judge. The message said: "Give them air quickly don't let them out". All you have to do is to click here and type in your email address. Essex lorry deaths: Men jailed for killing 39 migrants in trailer 22 January 2021 Essex lorry deaths The 39 people who died in the back of a trailer as it crossed the North Sea. [48], On 4 March 2020, a man from Essex was charged with an immigration offence related to the deaths. "Maybe going to die in the container, can't breathe any more dear," read a text message typed by Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh. One man spoke with ragged breaths to his family, saying: I cant breathe. "We wouldn't transport animals in that way.". Det Ch Insp Daniel Stoten said: "May this serve as a warning to those who think it's OK to prey on the vulnerabilities of migrants and their families, transporting them in a way worse than we would transport animals. "We have arrested the lorry driver in connection with the incident who remains in police custody as our enquiries continue. Two years on from the tragedy, we look back to mourn the lives lost and the investigation which brought those responsible to justice. The chief constable of Essex police, Ben-Julian Harrington, said this was the biggest operation in his forces history. He waited 20 minutes before calling emergency services. A cloud of steam that emerged from the trailer, caught on CCTV, spoke volumes of the heat that was still inside the trailer, the judge said. The two ringleaders of the people-smuggling gang responsible for the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people who suffocated in a sealed refrigeration container as they were transported across the Channel from France have received prison sentences of 27 and 20 years. Det Ch Insp Stoten said: "This crime group have been stopped on many, many, occasions in Europe and the UK - and they continued. While Hughes admitted manslaughter, both Nica and Harrison were convicted by a jury. "He didn't go straight to the UK, he went to Germany first. [59] Thirteen people were arrested in France. What happened in the Ukraine helicopter crash? Have a good life.". What she was seeing was a people-smuggling operation run by the same gang responsible for the 39 deaths. Essex Police said the people were all pronounced dead at the scene in an industrial park in Grays, east of London. They were found on the floor of the trailer holding hands. Eight women and 31 men were sealed inside the vehicle for at least 12 hours as temperatures reached an "unbearable" 38.5C (101F). His co-conspirator Gheorghe Nica, 43, a Romanian lorry mechanic who helped coordinate the transport of the migrants, and who was found guilty last year of manslaughter and people-smuggling, was sentenced by Mr Justice Sweeney to 27 years in prison. [3] Refrigerated trailers can be kept airtight and frozen to preserve perishables, which could lead to an occupant dying of suffocation or hypothermia should they become trapped inside. [56] Bail was refused on 30 April. "There is no VIP service - these are the lies people are told to be exploited," he said. [23], On 3 November, Vietnamese officials provided DNA samples from people in Ngh An Province and essential documents to help identify the deceased. [80], On 21 March 2022, Dragos-Stefan Damian was jailed for three years and ten months after being found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. This article does contains many crime scene photos, as well as the group's strangely joyful exit interview video which was shot just before their deaths, Applewhite's final video, a house tour while the bodies were still inside, and an interview with a surviving member who does show a video of the cult going about their daily routines. [4], The investigation is being led by Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Stoten, a Senior Investigating Officer within the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate. Both were found guilty of manslaughter and conspiracy to transport and assist illegal migrants. Two ringleaders receive sentences of 27 and 20 years after 39 Vietnamese people suffocated in container. RM GA0448 - A police officer at the scene of a shooting at Rayleigh railway station in Essex, after a member of the public was shot armed robbers today. [24][25] By 7 November, all of the deceased had been formally identified. The four defendants charged with manslaughter all said they had not intended harm to the victims, but the judge noted that the conspiracy was committed for financial gain. My thoughts are with all those who lost their lives & their loved ones.". A restaurant worker in the industrial estate, who did not want to be named, said: "There's a lot of police and forensics. I want to come back to my family. Detectives believe the vehicle was travelling from Bulgaria and entered the UK three days ago via Holyhead in north Wales, one of the main port for ferries from Ireland. [62], In June 2021 Italian authorities and the National Crime Agency arrested a 27-year-old Romanian man near Milan in connection with the deaths, charging him with conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence. [21] The family of a 26-year-old Vietnamese woman made public her last text message to her parents which she sent as she was dying;[22] her family said they paid around 30,000 to smuggle their daughter from Vietnam to the UK. [4] Following the incident, the Chief Executive of the charity group Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said that the British government needs to open safe routes and make quick decisions regarding asylum seekers to prevent such attempts, sentiments echoed by the Refugee and Migrant Rights Director of Amnesty International UK. gigs and tours harry styles; ozuna and karol g kissing; thayers witch hazel original vs unscented Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Stoten, who led the investigation, described how one single fingerprint found in another one of Hughes' lorries was "gold dust", leading to another man who made the same journey a week before. Image: Police and forensics at the crime scene in Grays, Essex, in October 2019 The victims died from suffocation and hyperthermia in the confined space of the truck, which arrived on a ferry from . [54] On 20 April 2020 a 40-year-old man was arrested in the Republic of Ireland in connection with the deaths. Additionally, money was donated by Vingroup, and other Vietnamese associations across Europe. [4] Other refugee groups have expressed concern that the border confusion surrounding Brexit will give more opportunities for groups to commit similar crimes. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. [55] On 29 April 2020 he appeared before the High Court via videolink, during which he was described as the "ringleader" of a criminal gang. Both men had made it as far as France - Tiep, via Russia, in 2017, and his older cousin a year later. He was returned to the UK where he was charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. Police release CCTV of missing Essex man not seen for month, Great Oaks, Basildon, closed by police after incident, Clacton Railway Club to host memorial darts tournament, Southend and District Badminton Association week 11, Street light switch-off plan not safe and not sensible, Basildon Eastgate sees worker suffer 'serious injuries' in fall, Ukrainian ministers killed in helicopter crash, Iran man who beheaded wife jailed for eight years, German police deny Greta's detainment was staged. He had seen a friend's Facebook post showing that they had made it to London. He got out of the cab, went to the rear of the trailer and opened the doors. Hughes, 41, and lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 26, had previously admitted the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese migrants who were found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex in October 2019. [68], A second man, from County Armagh, also appeared at the Central Criminal Court on 13 December and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit human trafficking offences between 1 May 2018 and 24 October 2019, by arranging or facilitating the travel of other people with a view to exploitation. But he couldn't find work in Germany. Belgian officials said the eight women . Christopher Kennedy, 24, from County Armagh, was jailed for seven years; Valentin Calota, 38, of Birmingham, for four-and-a-half years; and Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 28, of Hobart Road, Tilbury, Essex, was given a three-year sentence. They were left to die, all because of the greed of the men who have been sentenced today., The home secretary, Priti Patel, said: The inhumanity of these callous people smugglers and their dangerous organised criminal networks has rightly been reflected in the sentencing today.. On all three runs, Nica, of Basildon, Essex, had arranged cars and a van to transport the migrants at the UK end. Thwarted in France, he said, the smugglers were possibly attempting to "do two loads in one". THE 39 migrants who died in the back of a lorry trailer in Essex left bloody handprints on the inside doors of the metal container, it has been reported. [90], Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the UK, said in a tweet that the embassy was in "close contact with the British police to seek clarification and confirmation of the relevant reports" and that "we read with heavy heart the reports about the death of 39 people". [81], In January 2022, 19 people were convicted in Belgium of being part of a people smuggling ring connected to the deaths, including the ringleader Vo Van Hong who was sentenced to 15 years in prison. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Robinson, Harrison, Hughes and Nica were all jailed for manslaughter in January this year, receiving jail sentences of up to 27 years. From this point onwards, a sensor inside the trailer tells its own story of a relentless rise in temperature. Post-mortem examinations found they died of overheating and a lack of oxygen. The trailer had been shipped from the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium, to Purfleet, Essex, UK, and the lorry cab and its driver are believed to have originated from Northern Ireland. We wouldn't transport animals in that way. Exactly two years ago, Essex was dealt one of the worst tragedies it's ever seen. Five people were found not guilty. [57][58], On 26 May 2020 French and Belgian police announced the arrest of 26 people suspected of human trafficking in relation to the Essex lorry deaths. [85], Extra UK immigration officers are to be deployed at the Belgian border port of Zeebrugge and more Border Force staff will operate at Purfleet as a result of the incident. "It was a bit of a shock but we're not 100 per cent sure of what's happened.". "On that boat in the night, there was no-one to hear them and no-one to help them. Essex lorry deaths: The supposed 'VIP' journey that killed 39 people 21 December 2020 Essex lorry deaths Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, 28, from Nghe An, wrote a text message that was never sent By. Early indications suggest the victims are 38 adults and one teenager. By the end of the trial, the gang involved in the deadly people-smuggling operation were brought to justice. Read more: Breaking news and updates on Essex crime. He persuaded them, saying he would only have to pay the 10,500 fee due to the people smugglers after he had arrived in the UK. They had all paid huge sums of money to reach Britain in search of a better life - paying up to 13,000 each. These are the first photographs of the lorry where 39 bodies were discovered today. "For the 39 men and women inside, that lorry had become their tomb. 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