Weeping mum told husband was in truck

other family members raised £11,000 so he could pay smugglers to help him get from Germany into Britain, where he hoped to find work.

Holding her young son in her arms, Thuong said: “I lost contact with him on October 21.

“I have a big debt to pay, no hope, and no energy to do anything”.

Tu’s father said relatives in the UK had told him that Tu was

A LORRY driver has been charged with the manslaughter of 39 migrants found dead in his refrigerated trailer this week.

Maurice “Mo” Robinson was arrested shortly after the discovery of the eight women and 31 men at Waterglade Retail Park in Grays, Essex, in the early hours of Wednesday.

In addition to manslaughter the 25-year-old, from Co Armagh in Northern Ireland, is charged with conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.

He faces Chelmsford magistrates on Monday.

Robinson, of Craigavon, was charged hours after a Vietnamese priest claimed the container was part of a convoy of three carrying more than 100 people in total.

The victims were all believed to be Chinese but at least 10 Vietnamese families now say they have not heard from loved ones trying to reach the UK.

One suspected victim is Pham Thi Tra My, 26, whose family paid £30,000 for a “VIP trip” to get here via China and France.

They said she texted to say she was “dying” and could not breathe in the container.

Her father Pham Van Thin said the smug gl er s did not tell h ow sh e would be transported – and said had he known “I would not have let her go.”

Father Anthony Dang Huu Nam, a Catholic priest from Vietnam’s Nghe An province, said he was aware of over 100 coming here for “a new life”.

He said: “The whole district is covered in sorrow.”

DCI Martin Pasmore declined to comment on the convoy claims or speculate on the nationalities of victims.

Gangs tempt Vietnamese – who earn an average £ 150 a month – to the UK with promises of £2,000-a-month wages but a government report says most end up being exploited. The lorry had crossed the Channel on a cargo ferry from Zeebrugge, in Belgium, to Purfleet, Essex.

Joanne Maher, 38, the lorry cab’s registered owner, and husband Thomas, 48, of Warrington, were still being held on suspicion of manslaughter and people trafficking.

A man of 48 held at Stansted Airport was being quizzed and a fifth person was arrested yesterday in Dublin.

patrick. hill@mirror.

co.uk

WORK Nguyen Dinh Tu A DEVASTATED wife yesterday wept as she told how she believes her husband was one of the 39 migrants found dead. Hoang Thi Thuong said that husband Nguyen Dinh Tu had paid £11,000 to find work in England – but she hasn’t heard from him since Monday. She said he had been working illegally in Romania and Germany before losing his job. She and

inside the truck and had d been planning to pick him up. “They were supposed to pick him up at the drop-off point but they called and said Tu was in that truck,” Tu’s father, Nguyen Dinh Sat said. “They knew the route, e, the time and the drop point of the truck. I think it’s true because I haven’t heard anything from my son” ‘BIG DEBT’ Mum Hoang Thi Thuong

GASPS Migrants make air hole in lorry on the M25 COURT DATE Driver Robinson