Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
39 deaths lorry driver ‘blind to risks’ of people smuggling
Court told of accused’s shock at finding bodies
A LORRY driver who discovered the bodies of 39 migrants in the back of his trailer had been “blind to the risks” of people smuggling, a court heard yesterday.
The Vietnamese victims, aged between 15 and 44, had suffocated in the sealed container as it was shipped from Zeebrugge to Purfleet in Essex in October 2019.
Maurice Robinson, 26, was left in shock after he opened the doors and found they were all dead, the Old Bailey was told.
His boss and ringleader in the operation, Ronan Hughes, 41, had told him to give them air quickly after collecting the trailer from the docks.
Robinson, who had called Hughes before 999, replied: “I can’t, they are f******** dead.”
Robinson, of Craigavon, and Hu g h e s , of Ar mag h , h a d pleaded guilty to the manslaughters and a plot to people smuggle dating back to May 2018. Robinson, who took cash to Nor th ern Irel and for Hughes, had also admitted a money laundering offence.
They appeared at the
Old Bailey to be sentenced with six other defendants.
In mitigation, Tyrone Smith QC accepted Robinson had misled authorities by failing to say that
Hughes had sent him a message instructing him to “give them air quickly don’t let them out” before he found the bodies.
Mr Smith said Robinson had been “brave” in giving full details to police afterwards.
The accused had been a “hard-working and well-liked young man” whose involvement had shocked those who knew him, the court heard.
Mr Smith said: “We do not seek to blame anybody else.
“He was blind to the risks we can now say were obvious and should have been obvious to him.”
Mr Justice Sweeney is expected to pass sentence on the defendants on a later date.
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay has argued it was an “exceptional” case.
The maximum sentence for manslaughter is life in prison.