"I didn't take my eyes off the lorry while I was on the [999] call.". [1][2] The refrigerated trailer was leased on 15 October from a rental company in County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. I want to come back to my family. 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. [28], On 29 October, Essex Police announced that two brothers from Armagh, Northern Ireland, one of whom owned the haulage company operating the lorry cab detained at Grays, were wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking offences related to the incident. Signing up to the newsletter is simple. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. [27], A murder investigation was launched on the morning of the day of the discovery. "We are in the process of identifying the victims, however I anticipate that this could be a lengthy process. We knew people who had already made the journey. "We thought maybe someone had broken into a lorry, but it's just awful. Additionally, money was donated by Vingroup, and other Vietnamese associations across Europe. GPS data showed it had previously travelled to Dunkirk and Lille in France and Bruges in Belgium. [43] Two days later, the prosecutor said that the lorry driver pretended that the trailer was filled with cookies and biscuits. He had seen a friend's Facebook post showing that they had made it to London. They leave behind two children in Vietnam. 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. Robinson gave a thumbs-up in reply. A screengrab of Maurice Robinson leaving Purfleet port. One man spoke with ragged breaths to his family, saying: I cant breathe. One of the biggest murder probes in British history is launched after the horrific discovery at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays. [4][14] The lorry driver was a 25-year-old man from Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. 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. He was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder. [59] The police operation was organised with a cross-border team organised by Eurojust that included Belgium, France, the UK and Ireland. He was immediately released having already served his sentence in custody. [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. Thurrock deaths: Aerial footage of lorry container in Essex where 39 bodies have been found. a recent documentary into the deaths revealed. Crammed into the back of Robinson's lorry were two cousins who were more than 6,000 miles (9,656km) from home. [55] He faced 39 charges of manslaughter as well as immigration offences. 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. A teenager's body was among the 39 discovered in the HGV at around 1.40am. Have a good life.". He did not have a chance to fulfil his dream, they said in a statement. This was when the victims were still believed to be of Chinese origin. He was also a good player. [69][70], On 28 August 2020 Ronan Hughes, from County Armagh, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 39 people found in the trailer. At the Old Bailey, two lorry drivers were also jailed for manslaughter. The bodies of 39 migrants found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex were so closely packed together the first policeman on the scene could not check them all for signs of life, a court has heard. [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. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. [100] The deputy chair of the Can Lc District, had reportedly been told by officials that the Vietnamese government offered to only pay the costs of bringing the bodies "home from the airport" and would pay in advance on behalf of the families only if the families would later pay them back. From this point onwards, a sensor inside the trailer tells its own story of a relentless rise in temperature. Helicopter video shows the Lorry in Essex where 39 bodies were found, Thirty-nine people, including a teenager, have been found dead inside a lorry container, Witnesses near the industrial estate described the 'awful' scene, Police are seen at the industrial estate today. On 23 October 2019 we were called to a scene that no officer could ever have prepared for. The trial focused on four people-smuggling runs by the gang in the space of just a fortnight in October 2019 which, if they had all been successful, would have brought more than 80 Vietnamese migrants into the UK and netted the organisers 800,000. They're not breathing.". [61] On 14 April 2021 he pleaded not guilty and is due to stand trial in 2023. [46][47] In February 2020, the man was given leave to appeal the extradition judgment. During the investigation, there was one crucial piece of evidence which cracked the case "wide open", a recent documentary into the deaths revealed. On all three runs, Nica, of Basildon, Essex, had arranged cars and a van to transport the migrants at the UK end. Have a good life. [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. [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. [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. "It's hard to say whether that would change the outcome but we have changed nationally the way that we deal with organised immigration crimes.". "My message to you is that we will find you and we will stop you.". All 39 people who were found dead in the back of a lorry in Essex have now been named. Witness X asked that friend for help. His barrister said Robinson, who admitted manslaughter, being part of the trafficking plot and money laundering, was "horrified by what he saw". [45], On 1 November, a man from Northern Ireland was re-arrested in the holding cells of the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin following the execution of a European Arrest Warrant issued in the UK. Update: Essex police have confirmed that no further action will be taken against Christopher Hughes. [99], Families of those who died told reporters that they had been told that neither the British nor Vietnamese governments were willing to cover the cost of repatriating the bodies back to their homes. Three others members of the people-smuggling gang were also sentenced for conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration. It is seen beside a white police tent in the aerial shots. A port worker who drove the trailer off the ship later reported noticing a pungent smell that was "similar to waste". [1], Soon after the police arrived, Eastern Avenue was closed and not fully re-opened until 25 October. He was one of the organisers of the smuggling operation but denied involvement in the lethal trip. [42] A Belgian public prosecutor said that this was the lorry driver they had been searching for, who had been seen on CCTV ten times at Zeebrugge while dropping off the refrigerated trailer. It was never sent. 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. 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. [78] Prosecutors are considering charges against a further three people. [80], Two lorry drivers who were also involved in the incident were also jailed. But he couldn't find work in Germany. Maurice Robinson, of Laurel Drive in Craigavon, Nothern Ireland, was arrested on suspicion of murder shortly after the bodies were found at the Waterglade Industrial Estate. 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). Det Ch Insp Stoten said: "This crime group have been stopped on many, many, occasions in Europe and the UK - and they continued. He said the victims died in an "unimaginable way, because of the utter greed of these criminals". While Hughes admitted manslaughter, both Nica and Harrison were convicted by a jury. "A load of immigrants just got out of a lorry, they just got into Mercedes and all that," Ms Andrews told the 999 operator. The lorry cab, a Scania R-series, was registered in Bulgaria in 2017 in the name of a company owned by an Irish citizen, but had not returned there since, according to the Bulgarian foreign ministry. We choose the most important stories of the day to include in the newsletter, including crime, court news, long reads, traffic and travel, food and drink articles and more. Emailwebnews@trinitymirror.com. The judge said Nica "recruited and paid the drivers whose job it was to collect the migrants when they reached the drop-off site in this country and to drive them to the safe house(s) where they were to be held until payment". 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. He saw what was inside and stepped back before closing the door. 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 between. He knew, in his own words, what had happened was "very, very bad" and that there would be a "big investigation". "All we know is they found the bodies in the back of a lorry. [12], On 23 October 2019, shortly after 01:40 BST, staff of the East of England Ambulance Service responding to a 999 call made by the driver, Maurice Robinson, who found 39 bodies in a refrigerated articulated lorry. On 23 October 2019, the bodies of 39 Vietnamese people 31 men and 8 women were found in the trailer of an articulated refrigerator lorry in Grays, Essex, United Kingdom. Many travelled to other countries in Europe, such as Poland and Russia, before being drawn by the prospect of finding better-paid work in the UK, a lure that saw them move west to France or Belgium before crossing the North Sea. "We have arrested the lorry driver in connection with the incident who remains in police custody as our enquiries continue. A week later, she saw the same red-cabbed lorry in front of her home, near the village golf club, during yet another smuggling run. A restaurant worker in the industrial estate, who did not want to be named, said: "There's a lot of police and forensics. All of the paramedics who attended that night were offered "enhanced support" from the service's well-being team in the aftermath, she said. Maurice Robinson, 26, was given 13 years and four months, having collected the trailer and opened it in an industrial estate to find the migrants dead. Officer Maxime Saison was on duty in France that night and told how the migrants, speaking in English, confirmed they were Vietnamese and had no documentation. "Maybe going to die in the container, can't breathe any more dear," read a text message typed by Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh. Who was Ukrainian minister Denys Monastyrsky? Most of the migrants are believed to have boarded the lorry container in northern France before it was driven to Zeebrugge and loaded on to a cargo ship bound for Purfleet on 22 October 2019. Ms Andrews described ringing police again after seeing the news of the 39 deaths on social media. [8] Belgian officials said the people were trapped in the trailer for at least 10 hours. Lorry driver Eamonn Harrison, 24, also from Northern Ireland, who collected the migrants in northern France and drove the container to Zeebrugge, was found guilty of people-smuggling and 39 counts of manslaughter in December. Matthew Long, deputy director of National Crime Agency, said the whole idea of some kind of special service was a con. They were found on the floor of the trailer holding hands. 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. "For the 39 men and women inside, that lorry had become their tomb. PC Jack Emerson was one of the first at the scene. He got out of the cab, went to the rear of the trailer and opened the doors. [92][93] The question was then further criticised by Chinese media after the victims were found not to be Chinese. Christopher Kennedy, 24, another lorry driver from Northern Ireland who was involved in earlier people-smuggling runs bringing Vietnamese migrants from Northern Ireland, was sentenced to seven years. Lorry driver Christopher Kennedy, 24, of County Armagh, and van driver Valentin Calota, 38, of Birmingham, were also convicted of being part of the people-smuggling plot. [4][14], The ambulance service said that all 39 people were dead before it arrived, and attempts at resuscitation could not be made. [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. [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. It then travelled through the Republic of Ireland to Dublin, and from there by sea to Holyhead in Wales, from where it was driven to Purfleet. I want to come back to my family. He waited for 15 minutes and then dialled 999, telling the operator: "There's immigrants in the back. His loss is so sudden for us. 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. [86], Campaigners against human trafficking organised a vigil to take place outside the Home Office on 24 October in solidarity with the casualties. Tiep's mother, Hoang Thi Ai, told the BBC why they had changed their minds. The twice-daily update will deliver the top news and features to your inbox every morning and evening. [79], On 22 January 2021 the culprits were jailed for the incident. [29][30], The lorry and bodies were moved from the scene to a secure location in Tilbury Docks, another nearby port on the Thames, to continue the investigation. [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". Sense of injustice lingers after Seoul Halloween crush, Chess gets a risqu makeover. 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. He would say 'Daddy just needs to see Mummy and the kids'. 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. [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. He waited 20 minutes before calling emergency services. "There were desperate attempts to contact the outside world by phone and to break through the roof of the container," the judge said. From the French capital, they had made their way to a town called Bierne, in northern France. Police ensured they were taken to the mortuary, and then had their post-mortem examinations carried out, together. He accepted Hughes was "not at the very top of the conspiracy" but said his role was "pivotal in that he ran a haulage business and supplied the trailers and drivers used to transport the migrants". Essex lorry deaths: Trafficking ringleader jailed for 15 years after 39 died from suffocation and hyperthermia, The 39 people whose bodies were discovered in a lorry in Grays, Essex, in October 2019. [69] Judge Burns remanded the accused until 12 June 2020, when Ireland's High Court ordered his extradition to the UK. The red and white lorry is pictured at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, surrounded by forensic. The families of many of the victims had mortgaged their land to pay fees of up to 30,000 to people smugglers to take them in stages to the UK; the trial only focused on the final leg of the journey between France and Britain. [11] The police suspect that an Irish people-smuggling ring which has been under investigation for around a year might be involved. 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