By Press Association 2021 Victims found in the back of a trailer An “unscrupulous” gang of people-smugglers are facing years behind bars for their part in the deaths of 39 migrants. The Vietnamese victims, aged between 15 and 44, suffocated in the back of a trailer as they were shipped to Purfleet in Essex from Belgium on October 23 last year. With false promises of a better life in Britain, they were betrayed by greedy criminals who pursued profits of more than £1 million that month alone. On Monday, Romanian ringleader Gheorghe Nica, 43, from Basildon, and lorry driver Eamonn Harrison, 24, from County Down, were found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter.