By Press Association 2021
Maurice Robinsonâs trailer and tractor unit, which was shown at the Old Bailey, London, during the trial (Essex Police/PA)
A ringleader of the people-smuggling ring responsible for the deaths of 39 migrants closed his eyes in the dock as his victims’ final agonising gasps were heard for the first time in court.
Haulier boss Ronan Hughes joined seven other defendants at the Old Bailey to be sentenced for their role in the “sophisticated long running” operation when ended in tragedy on October 23 2019.
The 39 Vietnamese men, women and children had suffocated in sweltering temperatures in a sealed container as they were shipped from Zeebrugge to Purfleet in Essex.
BBC News
Published
image copyrightEssex Police
image captionNguyen Huy Hung was one of 39 people who died in a container en route from Belgium to Essex
The father of a 15-year-old boy who was one of 39 people to die in a lorry trailer said he learned of his son s death through social media.
Nguyen Huy Hung died in the sealed container en route from Belgium to Purfleet, Essex, in October 2019.
His father, Nguyen Huy Tung, said the family could not believe it until we saw his body by our own eyes at the hospital.
Eight men are being sentenced for their role in the people-smuggling operation.
Maurice Mo Robinson, 26, was part of a million-pound people-smuggling ring
Gang brought people into Britain in back of lorries - earning him £100,000
In October 2019, Robinson opened back of his refrigerated trailer in Grays, Essex
Was met with a gush of steam and the 39 bodies of people who died on journey
Robinson admitted 39 counts of manslaughter and is now facing sentencing
Robinson called Ronan Hughes - the gang s ringleader - when he found bodies
The final moments of the victims were played at the Old Bailey on Thursday
Essex people smuggling ring accused listens to final gasps of Vietnamese people who died
Defendants to be sentenced for roles in “sophisticated long running” operation
Police and forensic officers at the scene in Grays, Essex (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)
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Four people-smugglers could be facing life sentences after the deaths of 39 migrants
- Credit: PA
Four people-smugglers could be facing life sentences for the manslaughter of 39 migrants whose bodies were discovered in the back of a trailer in Essex.
The Vietnamese victims, aged between 15 and 44, suffocated in a container as they were shipped to Purfleet, Essex, from Belgium on October 23, 2019.
Romanian ringleader Gheorghe Nica, 43, from Basildon, and truck driver Eamonn Harrison, 24, from County Down, were found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter and plotting to people smuggle last month following a trial at the Old Bailey.
Haulier boss Ronan Hughes, 41, of Armagh, and 26-year-old lorry driver Maurice Robinson, of Craigavon, admitted the offences.