Recordings from some of the victims' final desperate phone messages were played aloud in court. On 23 October 2019 we were called to a scene that no officer could ever have prepared for. From this point onwards, a sensor inside the trailer tells its own story of a relentless rise in temperature. "A load of immigrants just got out of a lorry, they just got into Mercedes and all that," Ms Andrews told the 999 operator. He would say 'Daddy just needs to see Mummy and the kids'. Other people involved in the case were jailed for between one and 10 years. 48 year old Romanian national Marius Mihai Draghici is believed to be part of the conspiracy to smuggle the migrants into the UK. They had been working legally as fruit pickers in Hungary when they phoned their families in Vietnam to tell them there had been a change in plan and they would soon be travelling to the UK. [80], Three other men were sentenced for conspiring to facilitate unlawful immigration: lorry driver Christopher Kennedy was sentenced to seven years, pickup driver Valentin Calota was sentenced to four and a half years and Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga was sentenced to three years. The families of the victims who lost their lives continue to mourn their losses, with many still struggling with the debts of the money they spent in search of a better life. Earlier this month, Gazmir Nuzi, 43, of Barclay Road, Tottenham, north London, was sentenced, having admitted his limited role in the people-smuggling operation. Witness X was taken to Phong's house in south London, where he stayed until his parents had "paid his fare" - a fare Witness X described as "too much" for what was supposed to be another "VIP" trip. [97], After reports that Vietnamese citizens might be among the deceased, Nguyn Xun Phc, Vietnamese Prime Minister, ordered the country's Public Security Ministry and the authorities of its two central provinces of H Tnh and Ngh An, where a number of missing citizens come from, to launch a probe into the case. Robinson, Harrison, Hughes and Nica were all jailed for manslaughter in January this year, receiving jail sentences of up to 27 years. [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. He saw what was inside and stepped back before closing the door. It's unclear who they are or exactly how they came into the country but one of the biggest murder investigations in British history is underway. At the Old Bailey, two lorry drivers were also jailed for manslaughter. [9] It arrived in Purfleet, a town with a port on the Thames, at around 00:30 on 23 October and was picked up with the cab there about half-an-hour later. Sense of injustice lingers after Seoul Halloween crush, Chess gets a risqu makeover. So he did.". It's one of the many ways that you can read the news that matters to you from EssexLive. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. "All we know is they found the bodies in the back of a lorry. Witness X described how he was ushered on to the back of the trailer at a rendezvous point in northern France. Two years on from the tragedy, we look back to mourn the lives lost and the investigation which brought those responsible to justice. "I can't breathe," he said. Shortly after 01:00, having picked up the trailer, Robinson got a SnapChat message from Ronan Hughes, his 40-year-old haulage boss from County Monaghan, Ireland. One of them, a man known to the court only as Witness X, gave evidence at the Old Bailey. On Saturday afternoon, Essex Police provided a fresh update revealing at the 25-year-old lorry driver had now been charged. He was later arrested in Germany. [4], The investigation is being led by Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Stoten, a Senior Investigating Officer within the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. First to the scene were paramedics from the East of England Ambulance Service, who were praised by chief executive Dorothy Hosein for their "incredible professionalism in very difficult circumstances". Video evidence showed how the trainer containing 39 Vietnamese migrants made its way to the UK. [59] Thirteen people were arrested in France. Nica claimed he told Robinson not to move the trailer and to call 999. [7][10][11], The Zeebrugge port chairman said it was "highly unlikely" the migrants entered the trailer there, and that breaking the seal, loading 39 people and resealing the trailer without being noticed would be "virtually impossible". 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. He was charged with unrelated offences. He knew, in his own words, what had happened was "very, very bad" and that there would be a "big investigation". [44] On 20 April 2020, one of the brothers, a 40-year-old man, was arrested by Garda in the Republic of Ireland on a European Arrest Warrant and charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and immigration offences. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. "This time, they simply had too many people on board," he told the Old Bailey. Sign up to the EssexLive newsletter below for the latest news straight to your inbox: If you're looking for a way to stay up-to-date with the latest breaking news from around Essex, the EssexLive newsletter is a good place to start. On Monday . [33], On 24 October, the Evening Standard speculated that the trailer had travelled from the Netherlands before its departure from Belgium. Five people were found not guilty. [98] After confirmation that they were all from Vietnam, the Vietnamese government strongly condemned human trafficking and called on all countries to combat such activities to prevent a recurrence of the incident. [1], Soon after the police arrived, Eastern Avenue was closed and not fully re-opened until 25 October. [5] In the evening of 23 October, the Belgian prosecutor's office announced that they would also investigate the lorry's transit through their country. VideoChess gets a risqu makeover, The Nigerian influencers paid to manipulate your vote, How a baffling census delay is hurting Indians, How Mafia boss was caught at a clinic after 30 years. [4] The deceased31 males and 8 femalesincluded 10 teenagers; the 2 youngest were 15-year-old boys.[15]. He described how he desperately searched for "signs of life", a pulse or a breath. Nine people have so far been convicted of crimes related to the incident in the UK and a further nineteen have been jailed in Belgium. Investigations are being led by Essex Police, and involve the national authorities of the UK, Belgium, Ireland and Vietnam. White forensic tents were erected and camera crews were set up to document the investigation as the eyes of the world looked on. [48], On 4 March 2020, a man from Essex was charged with an immigration offence related to the deaths. [48], On 4 November, Vietnamese police arrested eight suspects in the central province of Ngh An in connection with the smuggling ring. [4][14], The ambulance service said that all 39 people were dead before it arrived, and attempts at resuscitation could not be made. Sentencing, Mr Justice Sweeney said: "I have no doubt that the conspiracy was a sophisticated, long-running and profitable one to smuggle mainly Vietnamese people across the channel.". "We have arrested the lorry driver in connection with the incident who remains in police custody as our enquiries continue. Lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 26, of Craigavon, leaving Purfleet port, Essex, Purfleet Thames Terminal the day 39 bodies were found in a container in Grays, The lorry was discovered in Waterglade Industrial Park on Eastern Avenue in Grays, (Image: (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)), The 39 victims and their families had paid thousands to give them a better life in Britain, Court artist sketch of Gheorghe Nica (left) and Eamonn Harrison (right) two of four men to face trial, at the Old Bailey, Bui Phan Thang, 37, from Ha Tinh, one of the 39 Vietnamese migrants. Speaking to the emergency call handler, Robinson explained he had just lifted a trailer from the port and found immigrants in the back "lying on the ground.". Thwarted in France, he said, the smugglers were possibly attempting to "do two loads in one". [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. Some of the victims reassured their anxious families that they had paid extra for a so-called VIP journey to the UK which meant the lorry driver was helping them to cross the border, and there was no need for them to break into vehicles and stow themselves away. [89], In October 2021, the BBC broadcast the hour-long documentary Hunting the Essex Lorry Killers. He had wanted to give his wife and three children a better life. He added at the top of the conspiracy was a Vietnamese man called "Fong", who was based in London. In September 2019, the younger cousin asked his parents if he could travel to the UK. Eleven of the victims - believed to be Chinese nationals - were taken by ambulance from . There they found the 39 migrants dead in the back of a refrigerated . On 23 November, it was reported that one of the teenagers later found dead had gone missing from an asylum centre in the Netherlands. Ronan Hughes, 41, who ran a haulage company and organised the lorries and drivers to transport the migrants, was sentenced to 20 years at the Old Bailey on Friday. A father of one of the deceased said he was given two options: having the ashes returned for 41,100,000 Vietnam dong (1,470) or receiving the body for 66,240,000 Vietnam dong (2,209). [41], On 26 October, the Irish police said they had detained a man in his 20s at Dublin Port who was of interest to Essex Police as part of its investigation into the lorry deaths. Despite the shock and horror, less than 36 hours after the discovery, as little as six bunches were laid at the site of the mass murder - something we stepped in to change, calling for residents to join us in laying flowers at the scene. The trailer's jammed. "It was a bit of a shock but we're not 100 per cent sure of what's happened.". Police ensured they were taken to the mortuary, and then had their post-mortem examinations carried out, together. Instead of immediately dialling 999 in the early hours of 23 October, 2019, the 26-year-old's first instinct was to get back in to his cab and drive off from the estate in Grays, with the bodies in the trailer behind him. It was here that a number of people were seen being delivered by taxi to an agricultural shed, before later clambering into a lorry. 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 . [77] Sentencing hearings for all eight guilty men are expected in January 2021. RM 2B4WWCW - Southend, Essex, UK. [35][39] He appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on 28 October, when the Crown Prosecution Service alleged that he was part of a "global ring" of people smugglers. [86], Campaigners against human trafficking organised a vigil to take place outside the Home Office on 24 October in solidarity with the casualties. The risks taken by the crime group responsible for the deaths of 39 migrants found in a lorry container in Essex were 'sadly not unusual', a senior Immigration Enforcement official has said. Among those killed was a married couple - Tran Hai Loc and Nguyen Thi Van. [4] Other refugee groups have expressed concern that the border confusion surrounding Brexit will give more opportunities for groups to commit similar crimes. A 25-year-old lorry driver from Northern Ireland has been arrested, Essex Police says. he 39 people found dead in a refrigerated lorry were already trapped when they arrived at the Belgian coast en route to England, local officials have said. I am sorry. My thoughts are with all those who lost their lives & their loved ones.". He was described as an organiser for the people-trafficking organisation, arranging accommodation and transit for money. [1][2] The refrigerated trailer was leased on 15 October from a rental company in County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. A restaurant worker in the industrial estate, who did not want to be named, said: "There's a lot of police and forensics. [75] On 8 April 2021, his extradition was approved. ". 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. She said: "We worked on the land and it was hard. Sense of injustice lingers after Seoul Halloween crush, Chess gets a risqu makeover. From Bierne, the lorry is seen on CCTV footage making its way across France and towards the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, where it was left to be loaded unaccompanied on to a ferry called the MV Clementine. Someone said he should go to the UK. Have a good life., In the background, a voice could be heard pleading: Come on everyone. All of the paramedics who attended that night were offered "enhanced support" from the service's well-being team in the aftermath, she said. "We thought maybe someone had broken into a lorry, but it's just awful. They had each paid about 13,000 to be smuggled into the UK and had desperately tried to raise the alarm as they suffocated inside the pitch-black refrigerated unit, which had been switched off. Ronan Hughes, 41, and Gheorghe Nica, 43, played "leading roles" in the smuggling conspiracy and were jailed for 20 and 27 years respectively. The twice-daily update will deliver the top news and features to your inbox every morning and evening. GPS data showed it had previously travelled to Dunkirk and Lille in France and Bruges in Belgium. Crammed into the back of Robinson's lorry were two cousins who were more than 6,000 miles (9,656km) from home. The migrants died "excruciatingly painful" deaths, having suffocated in the container en route from Belgium to Purfleet in October 2019, a judge said. 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. On the morning of October 23, 2019, the bodies of 39 Vietnamese men, women and children were discovered dead in the back of a lorry in Grays, Essex. 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. Every person in that trailer had left behind a family. It was a discovery that would hurl Essex into the international spotlight as police, press and forensics descended on the industrial estate that had become the scene of a devastating mass grave. [11][12], On 2 November, police clarified they were all Vietnamese. Many of their families borrowed heavily to fund their passage, relying on their potential future earnings once they got into the UK. One of them was Gheorghe Nica. Have a good life. While the county came to terms with the tragedy on our doorstep, Essex Police launched the largest investigation in its history to bring down members of the international smuggling operation responsible for their deaths. [60] In March 2021, the man appeared in court again accused by Belgian authorities of being a member of a criminal organisation, being involved in human trafficking and using forged documents. [60], On 17 March 2021 a 23-year-old haulier from Caledon, County Tyrone was charged with conspiracy to assist illegal immigration in connection with the deaths. Pic: Essex Police, Police and forensics at the crime scene in Grays, Essex, in October 2019, Lorry driver Maurice Robinson is seen leaving Purfleet port in Essex after collecting the trailer containing the migrants, Gheorghe Nica pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of the migrants. We wouldn't transport animals in that way. I want to come back to my family. 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