One of those was Nguyen Thi Hong, whose husband Bui Phan Thang died in the lorry. [86], Campaigners against human trafficking organised a vigil to take place outside the Home Office on 24 October in solidarity with the casualties. The father of Nguyen Huy Tung, one of two 15-year-olds in the container, later learned of his son's death via social media. It came to light that the 31 men and eight women - including a 15-year-old child - had died in sweltering temperatures in the lorry's sealed container as they were shipped from Zeebrugge to Purfleet. [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. 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The court heard some of their final desperate phone messages, including one where a man spoke with ragged breaths as he apologised to his family. The deaths have been a wake-up call for police. Alongside the crucial testimony - giving a voice to the 39 - Essex Police was able to extradite Ronan Hughes back to the UK from Ireland. He found none. Sense of injustice lingers after Seoul Halloween crush, Chess gets a risqu makeover. 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 . At 00:30 GMT on 23 October, 2019, the MV Clementine docked at Purfleet-on-Thames. 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. A port worker who drove the trailer off the ship later reported noticing a pungent smell that was "similar to waste". 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. Mr Justice Sweeney told the defendants jailed for manslaughter they would serve two-thirds of the term in custody, instead of the usual half. Read more: Breaking news and updates on Essex crime. Sense of injustice lingers after Seoul Halloween crush, Chess gets a risqu makeover. 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. Det Ch Insp Daniel Stoten, of Essex Police, said: "They are callous and they are dangerous and they are out to exploit these people. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Channel 4 defended its decision as meeting its public service obligations, arguing that revelation of the ease with which people could be smuggled into Britain had become a "matter of urgent public interest". [40] He was remanded in custody, to appear at the Central Criminal Court on 25 November. Robinson, of Craigavon, County Armagh, returned to his cab before driving off and making his first call to Hughes. As they began to die inside the dark container, where the temperature had risen to 38.5C, they recorded farewell messages for their relatives. [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. Police later moved the bodies to a mortuary at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford for post-mortems to be carried out. [69] Judge Burns remanded the accused until 12 June 2020, when Ireland's High Court ordered his extradition to the UK. I want to come back to my family. The county marks the two-year anniversary of one of the worst tragedies it's ever seen, Get the latest on all the biggest court and crime news in Essex direct from our expert court reporter. PC Jack Emerson was one of the first at the scene. [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. Thwarted in France, he said, the smugglers were possibly attempting to "do two loads in one". "[53], On 17 April 2020, a 42-year-old man from Tottenham was charged with an immigration offence related to the deaths. Among those killed was a married couple - Tran Hai Loc and Nguyen Thi Van. 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. "The day he left it was 6th September. Det Ch Insp Stoten said: "The officers who attended that - most of them were very young in service and some of them had never experienced a dead person, a deceased person, before. Who was Ukrainian minister Denys Monastyrsky? 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. Eamonn Harrison, 24, who towed the trailer to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge before their journey to the UK, was sentenced to 18 years. gigs and tours harry styles; ozuna and karol g kissing; thayers witch hazel original vs unscented All of the paramedics who attended that night were offered "enhanced support" from the service's well-being team in the aftermath, she said. During the voyage, the temperature rose from the high 20s all the way up to 38.5C (101F), by which point the air was too toxic for human life. In the weeks before the tragic journey, the gang, led by Hughes and Nica, organised at least two other journeys smuggling Vietnamese migrants packed into the back of lorries into the UK. They leave behind two children in Vietnam. [1][4], The lorry cab and the trailer arrived separately in Purfleet, Essex, from where they travelled together the short distance to Grays. ", Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 7th March 2020. Essex Police investigate serious crime scene on Cromer Road, Southend-On-Sea, Essex. Smugglers often force migrants to work off the cost of the trip in slave-like conditions. Essex crime: Rayleigh mum and son jailed for collective ten years for wanting to sell 750,000 of cocaine Crime Bookmark Person tries to chase driver fleeing scene of Romford lamppost crash - but falls over and is taken to hospital Romford Bookmark Boy, aged 15, charged after teen found with stabbed leg and knife recovered near Barking tube station The victims died from suffocation and hyperthermia in the confined space of the truck, which arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium. "[64], in July 2022, Essex Police released an image of a man who is wanted in connection with the deaths. But he couldn't find work in Germany. "I immediately recognised this cab and trailer on the news as certainly being the same one that I had seen on both 11 October and 18 October, 2019," she said. Many of their families borrowed heavily to fund their passage, relying on their potential future earnings once they got into the UK. [34] British police had also searched two properties in Northern Ireland. Maurice Robinson, who collected the trailer from Purfleet and discovered the dead bodies, was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months. Tiep's mother, Hoang Thi Ai, told the BBC why they had changed their minds. 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. [48], On 4 March 2020, a man from Essex was charged with an immigration offence related to the deaths. [37] On 27 October, it was announced that these three had been released on bail. Many of the 28 men, eight women and three boys found dead in the trailer were in Paris the day before their deaths. Northern Irish lorry driver, Christopher Kennedy, 24, and Valentin Calota, 38, a pickup driver from Romania, were both convicted of conspiring to smuggle people into the country unlawfully. Our enquiries are ongoing to establish what has happened. [54] On 20 April 2020 a 40-year-old man was arrested in the Republic of Ireland in connection with the deaths. The red and white lorry is pictured at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, surrounded by forensic teams. Serve two-thirds of the first at the Central Criminal Court on 25 November the term custody... Gets a risqu makeover Tran Hai Loc and Nguyen Thi Van Thi Ai, told the jailed... Mortuary at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford for post-mortems to be carried out in Paris day. Boys found dead in the lorry immigration offence related to the UK had. ] British police had also searched two properties in Northern Ireland trip in slave-like conditions [ 48 ] on! 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