Haulier jailed over deaths of migrants wins appeal against asset confiscation

An Irish haulier found guilty of the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese immigrants in a truck has won his appeal against a €175,000 asset confiscation order based on the value of a home he built in Co Monaghan.

A confiscation order totalling £182,000 (€213,000) was made against Ronan Hughes last year by the British Crown Court, with the money to be distributed to the families of the deceased immigrants. That amount included £150,000 (€175,000) the court said represented his share of ownership in the Monaghan home.

But Hughes and his mother Catherine Hughes have successfully appealed against the confiscation order in respect of the home, with the Crown Court now directed by the Court of Appeal to conduct a fresh hearing into its ownership.

Hughes was a criminal kingpin in the smuggling of illegal immigrants across the English Channel from France. He was paid £3,000 for each immigrant he smuggled.

In October 2019, two of his employees took part in transporting the 39 Vietnamese nationals by truck in an airtight trailer from France to Essex in England.

When the doors were opened nearly 12 hours later, all those inside – including men, women and teenagers – were dead. Their deaths were caused by asphyxiation, carbon dioxide poisoning and hyperthermia.

Hughes was extradited from Ireland to the UK in 2020 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter in 2021.

The Crown Court subsequently determined that Hughes benefited to the tune of £182,000 from his criminal conduct. Some assets, including cash and vehicles, amounted to just over £55,000.

But there was an issue as to the value of any interest Hughes had in a property at Leitrim Silverstream, Tyholland, Co Monaghan.

Until his arrest, Hughes had lived at the house with his wife Michelle and their three children. He had paid for the house to be built on land owned at the time by his father.

In October 2020 – six months after he was arrested in Ireland – Catherine Hughes was added to the registered title as a co-owner of the land with her husband, Gerard.

Gerard Hughes died in 2021, and the land on which the house was built is now registered as being solely owned by Mrs Hughes.

In 2021, Ronan Hughes stated that he owned the home built on the land in Co Monaghan and owned it jointly with his wife. The house was valued in 2021 at £532,000 (€624,000) by the court’s financial investigator. Hughes disagreed with that valuation. Michelle Hughes produced a certificate to the court that showed the property was valued at €350,000.

Catherine Hughes told the court that while her son and Michelle Hughes were given permission to build on a house on the land, she and her late husband did not intend to provide any assurance that her son and his family would obtain rights to the land or that they could sell the property.

But the Crown Court judge ruled that Hughes did have an equitable interest in the house. The judge ruled that his share was worth £150,000. He then made the asset confiscation order totalling £182,000 against Hughes.

Hughes and his mother appealed against the order. Hughes’ lawyers argued that he does not have any present right to sell the house, because the land on which it sits is owned by his mother.

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Crown Court’s ruling that Hughes had a proprietary interest in the Co Monaghan home must be set aside.