essex lorry deaths crime scene photos

[87], Channel 4 postponed a television series called Smuggled that was due to air on 28 October, in which British citizens try to smuggle themselves from mainland Europe to the UK. 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". They were left to die, all because of the greed of the men who have been sentenced today., The home secretary, Priti Patel, said: The inhumanity of these callous people smugglers and their dangerous organised criminal networks has rightly been reflected in the sentencing today.. [79], On 22 January 2021 the culprits were jailed for the incident. Witness X asked that friend for help. Alongside the crucial testimony - giving a voice to the 39 - Essex Police was able to extradite Ronan Hughes back to the UK from Ireland. When Robinson stopped on a nearby industrial estate, he found that the migrants were all dead. "I am receiving regular updates from the Home Office & will work closely with Essex Police as we establish exactly what has happened. Witness X described how he was ushered on to the back of the trailer at a rendezvous point in northern France. When Robinson discovered the bodies, there was a series of telephone conversations between him and Nica and Hughes, of Tyholland, County Monaghan, Ireland, before the driver eventually dialled 999. Tiep's mother, Hoang Thi Ai, told the BBC why they had changed their minds. One of them, a man known to the court only as Witness X, gave evidence at the Old Bailey. Ms Andrews described ringing police again after seeing the news of the 39 deaths on social media. The victims had used a metal pole to try to punch through the roof but only managed to dent the interior. 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. Open up, open up., Another father, Nguyen Tho Tuan, recorded a spoken message for his own family saying: "I am sorry. Ten teenagers including two 15-year-old boys were among the 39 people found dead in a lorry . The man is accused of "conspiring to smuggle non-EU nationals into the UK, contrary to immigration law, between 1 May 2018 and 24 October 2019. "They did a brilliant job and they put us in a really strong position to continue the investigation.". We contacted them and they told us how to go about it. 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. One of them was Gheorghe Nica. Inside was an almost unimaginable sight: 39 people, 10 of them teenagers, were dead. [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. 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. In a tweet published shortly before 10.30am Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "Im appalled by this tragic incident in Essex. There they found the 39 migrants dead in the back of a refrigerated . ", Cousins Hoang Van Tiep (left), 18, and Nguyen Van Hung, 33, died together in the container, Both Maurice Robinson (left) and Ronan Hughes admitted 39 counts of manslaughter in connection with the case, After receiving this message from his boss, Robinson got out of his cab, opened the trailer door and discovered the bodies, Gheorghe Nica, Eamonn Harrison and Christopher Kennedy were all part of the people-smuggling conspiracy, Ronan Hughes (left) was captured on CCTV meeting Gheorghe Nica at a hotel, Twelve days before 39 people were found dead in the back of a lorry, the same cab was seen repeatedly in a country lane in Orsett, Essex, This is the moment Maurice Robinson opened the trailer door and discovered the bodies inside was captured on CCTV, A relative paid tribute to Bui Thi Nhung as families mourned the deaths of the 39 people. As they began to die inside the dark container, where the temperature had risen to 38.5C, they recorded farewell messages for their relatives. PC Jack Emerson was one of the first at the scene. I cannot breathe. 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. Police have begun the process of moving the bodies of 39 people found dead in a refrigerated lorry in Essex. He was described as an organiser for the people-trafficking organisation, arranging accommodation and transit for money. [43] Two days later, the prosecutor said that the lorry driver pretended that the trailer was filled with cookies and biscuits. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. [80], Two lorry drivers who were also involved in the incident were also jailed. 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. On all three runs, Nica, of Basildon, Essex, had arranged cars and a van to transport the migrants at the UK end. Mr Justice Sweeney said that in the conspiracy "two played leading roles, namely - in order of importance - Hughes and Nica". [14] The investigation was the "largest mass fatality victim identification" investigation in the history of Essex Police. [91], In an editorial headlined, "The UK must bear responsibility," the Global Times, a state-run newspaper, said that the responsibility for the deaths lay with Britain and other European countries. [24][25] By 7 November, all of the deceased had been formally identified. Essex lorry deaths: The supposed 'VIP' journey that killed 39 people 21 December 2020 Essex lorry deaths Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, 28, from Nghe An, wrote a text message that was never sent By. He slowly brought the lorry to a stop at the industrial estate, got out of the cab and opened the trailer door. 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. He added at the top of the conspiracy was a Vietnamese man called "Fong", who was based in London. In the CNN report, this question was described to be "about the possibility of Chinese citizens being illegally trafficked" and "was rebuffed by the spokesperson". On 23 November, it was reported that one of the teenagers later found dead had gone missing from an asylum centre in the Netherlands. ", "Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on October 25, 2019", Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, "CNN slammed for rushing to attack China in report of UK lorry death", "China says identity of victims still being confirmed", "PM orders investigation into overseas trafficking of Vietnamese citizens", "Essex lorry deaths: Vietnam condemns 'human trafficking', "Vietnam offers loans to families to return bodies", "Vietnam offers grieving families loans to return bodies", "Fundraisers help send Vietnam's lorry dead home", "Essex lorry deaths: All victims' bodies back in Vietnam", Young Vietnamese workers risking life and death on 'the line' to Europe, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Essex_lorry_deaths&oldid=1120801721, October 2019 events in the United Kingdom, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 8 November 2022, at 22:09. ", Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. [33], On 24 October, the Evening Standard speculated that the trailer had travelled from the Netherlands before its departure from Belgium. The 39 people who died in the back of a trailer as it crossed the North Sea between Zeebrugge and the UK, [Left to right] Eamonn Harrison, Ronan Hughes, Gheorghe Nica and Maurice Robinson were all jailed for manslaughter, [Left to right] Valentin Calota, Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga and Christopher Kennedy were also sentenced on Friday, The bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October 2019, After receiving this message from his boss, Robinson got out of his cab, opened the trailer door and discovered the bodies, The moment lorry driver Maurice Robinson opened the trailer door and discovered the bodies inside was captured on CCTV, Ronan Hughes (left) met Gheorghe Nica at a budget hotel in Thurrock, Essex, learned of his son's death via social media, admitted his limited role in the people-smuggling operation, US porn star declared unfit for sex crimes trial, Jeremy Renner TV show poster edited after accident, Celebrities who say their children will get no inheritance, Germany: We are no longer reliant on Russian energy, City asks Madonna if it can borrow her painting, Keep cake away from office, says food adviser. The driver of the trailer spoke only to hurry them along, Witness X told the court. [11][12], On 2 November, police clarified they were all Vietnamese. 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. Harrison, of Newry, County Down, claimed he did not know there were people in the trailer when he towed it to the Belgian port, and that he watched "a wee bit of Netflix" in bed as they were loaded on. He too was seeking a better life when, in February last year, he paid up to 20,000 to a trafficker in Vietnam for a visa and a place on a business studies course in Poland. 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. He loved football very much and he loved UK teams as well as the Champions League. ", Justice Sweeney added: "The willingness of the victims to try and enter the country illegally provides no excuse for what happened to them.". [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. The offence allegedly occurred between May 2018 and October 2019. His loss is so sudden for us. 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. What she was seeing was a people-smuggling operation run by the same gang responsible for the 39 deaths. Read about our approach to external linking. [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. [21] The family of a 26-year-old Vietnamese woman made public her last text message to her parents which she sent as she was dying;[22] her family said they paid around 30,000 to smuggle their daughter from Vietnam to the UK. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. 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. "He said he would not go in a container lorry and that it needed to be safe, even though the truck option was a lot cheaper.". [46][47] In February 2020, the man was given leave to appeal the extradition judgment. 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. 48 year old Romanian national Marius Mihai Draghici is believed to be part of the conspiracy to smuggle the migrants into the UK. At the Old Bailey, two lorry drivers were also jailed for manslaughter. Other people involved in the case were jailed for between one and 10 years. He was charged with 41 offences, including 39 of manslaughter, and extradition proceedings began in the Irish High Court. 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. [35], On 25 October, police arrested a man and a woman from Warrington, Cheshire, on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people,[36] and another man at Stansted Airport regarding the same offences. Essex Police investigate serious crime scene on Cromer Road, Southend-On-Sea, Essex. Signing up to the newsletter is simple. His boss, Hughes, had messaged him: "Give them air quickly don't let them out.". He would say 'Daddy just needs to see Mummy and the kids'. Three others members of the people-smuggling gang were also sentenced for conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration. Pham Thi Tra My, a 26-year-old woman from Ha Tinh, Nguyen Dinh Luong, a 20-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Nguyen Huy Phong, a 35-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Vo Nhan Du, a 19-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Tran Manh Hung, a 37-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Tran Khanh Tho, a 18-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Vo Van Linh, a 25-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Nguyen Van Nhan, a 33-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Bui Phan Thang, a 37-year-old man from Ha Tinh, Nguyen Huy Hung, a 15-year-old boy from Ha Tinh, Tran Thi Tho, a 21-year-old woman from Nghe An, Bui Thi Nhung, a 19-year-old woman from Nghe An, Vo Ngoc Nam, a 28-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Dinh Tu, a 26-year-old man from Nghe An, Le Van Ha, a 30-year-old man from Nghe An, Tran Thi Ngoc, a 19-year-old woman from Nghe An, Nguyen Van Hung, a 33-year-old man from Nghe An, Hoang Van Tiep, a 18-year-old man from Nghe An, Cao Tien Dung, a 37-year-old man from Nghe An, Cao Huy Thanh, a 37-year-old man from Nghe An, Tran Thi Mai Nhung, a 18-year-old woman from Nghe An, Nguyen Minh Quang, a 20-year-old man from Nghe An, Le Ngoc Thanh, a 44-year-old man from Dien Chau, Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, a 28-year-old woman from Nghe An, Hoang Van Hoi, a 24-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Tho Tuan, a 25-year-old man from Nghe An, Dang Huu Tuyen, a 22-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Trong Thai, a 26-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Van Hiep, a 24-year-old man from Nghe An, Nguyen Thi Van, a 35-year-old woman from Nghe An, Tran Hai Loc, a 35-year-old man from Nghe An, Duong Minh Tuan, a 27-year-old man from Quang Binh, Nguyen Ngoc Ha, a 32-year-old man from Quang Binh, Nguyen Tien Dung, a 33-year-old man from Quang, Binh, Phan Thi Thanh, a 41-year-old woman from Hai Phong, Nguyen Ba Vu Hung, a 34-year-old man from Thua Thien-Hue, Dinh Dinh Thai Quyen, a 18-year-old man from Hai Phong, Tran Ngoc Hieu, a 17-year-old boy from Hai Duong, Dinh Dinh Binh, a 15-year-old boy from Hai Phong. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Many of their families borrowed heavily to fund their passage, relying on their potential future earnings once they got into the UK. His father, Hoang Van Lanh, believed his son was tricked, possibly at the last moment. Read more: Breaking news and updates on Essex crime. [73][74], In January 2021, an extradition hearing was held at Westminster Magistrates' Court for a Vietnamese man, said to be aged 18, who appeared via videolink from HM Prison Wandsworth accused of transporting 10 of the 39 from a safehouse in Anderlecht. 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. [37] On 27 October, it was announced that these three had been released on bail. 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 . Nica flew out of the country the next day. "I want to come back to my family. [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. In the BBC documentary Hunting the Essex Lorry Killers, it shared some of the devastating testimonies from the victims' families. Eamonn Harrison, a lorry driver from Northern Ireland, who dropped the trailer off at Zebrugge, and Gheorghe Nica, the coordinator of the smuggling operation, from Romania, were found guilty of manslaughter. Who was Ukrainian minister Denys Monastyrsky? 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. Who was Ukrainian minister Denys Monastyrsky? Four people received a custodial sentence of at least 13 years. The stories of the 39 show their journeys from Vietnam were often done in stages. An international criminal investigation into a major people-smuggling operation was set to begin. He was later arrested in Germany. Following a 10-week trial in 2020, Northern Irish lorry driver Eamonn Harrison was found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter, while Romanian organiser Gheorghe Nica was convicted of the same charges. Nguyen Van Hung, who was 33, and 18-year-old Hoang Van Tiep were from the same village in Nghe An province, in the north of Vietnam. Robinson, of Craigavon, County Armagh, returned to his cab before driving off and making his first call to Hughes. "[53], On 17 April 2020, a 42-year-old man from Tottenham was charged with an immigration offence related to the deaths. 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