People smuggler pleads guilty to manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese migrants in UK

An alleged ringleader of a people-smuggling gang has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 39 men, women and children in a lorry trailer in Essex.

The Vietnamese nationals were found dead in the container which had been transported by ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet early on October 23rd, 2019.

The victims, two aged just 15, had hoped for a better life in Britain when they agreed to pay up to £13,000 (€15,000) to be smuggled into the country.

On October 22nd, 2019, they were crammed into the lorry container to be shipped to the UK in pitch black and sweltering conditions. A court in London has heard how they desperately tried to raise the alarm as they ran out of air before reaching British shores.

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Marius Mihai Draghici (50), who was detained by police in Romania last August, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday to the manslaughter charges as well as conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. He will be sentenced on a date to be set.

Four others, including three Irish men, were jailed in 2021 for between 13 and 27 years for the manslaughter of the 39 migrants.

Lorry driver Maurice Robinson found the migrants dead when he collected the trailer from the docks early the next morning. Robinson (28), of Craigavon, and his boss Ronan Hughes (43), of Armagh, had admitted plotting to people smuggle and 39 counts of manslaughter.

[ Armagh haulier to pay £180,000 to families of 39 container death victims ]

Gheorghe Nica (46), of Basildon, Essex, and Eamonn Harrison (26), of Co Down, who had collected the victims on the continent, were also found guilty of the offences.

Robinson, who also admitted money laundering, was jailed for 13 years and four months in jail, Hughes was sentenced to 20 years in prison, Nica to 27 years and Harrison to 18 years.

Other members of the gang were also jailed for their role in the organised criminal operation.

Lorry driver Christopher Kennedy (26), of Co Armagh, was jailed for seven years; Valentin Calota (40), from Birmingham, was handed four-and-a-half years; and Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga (31), from Essex, was sentenced to three years in custody.

[ The Irish-Romanian clique behind migrant lorry deaths in Essex ]

The court had heard the operation was long-running and profitable, with the smugglers standing to make more than a million pounds in October 2019 alone.

A total of seven smuggling trips were identified between May 2018 and October 23rd, 2019, although the court heard that there were likely to have been more.

Migrants would board lorries at a remote location on the continent to be transported to Britain where they would be picked up by a fleet of smaller vehicles organised by Nica for transfer to a safe house until payment was received.

[ ‘I’m sorry’: Court hears of last message of dying Vietnamese migrant ]

The fee was between £10,000 and £13,000, for the “VIP route” in which the driver was aware of the presence of smuggled migrants inside the trailer attached to his lorry.

Some of the trips were thwarted by border officials and residents in Orsett, Essex, who had repeatedly reported migrants being dropped off to the police.

The 39 victims were: Dinh Dinh Binh, Nguyen Minh Quang, Nguyen Huy Phong, Le Van Ha, Nguyen Van Hiep, Bui Phan Thang, Nguyen Van Hung, Nguyen Huy Hung, Nguyen Tien Dung, Pham Thi Tra My, Tran Khanh Tho, Nguyen Van Nhan, Vo Ngoc Nam, Vo Van Linh, Nguyen Ba Vu Hung, Vo Nhan Du, Tran Hai Loc, Tran Manh Hung, Nguyen Thi Van, Bui Thi Nhung, Hoang Van Tiep, Tran Thi Ngoc, Phan Thi Thanh, Tran Thi Tho, Duong Minh Tuan, Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, Tran Thi Mai Nhung, Le Trong Thanh, Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Hoang Van Hoi, Tran Ngoc Hieu, Cao Tien Dung, Dinh Dinh Thai Quyen, Dang Huu Tuyen, Nguyen Dinh Luong , Cao Huy Thanh, Nguyen Trong Thai, Nguyen Tho Tuan and Nguyen Dinh Tu. - PA