People-smugglers found guilty
AN “unscrupulous” gang of peoplesmugglers are facing years behind bars for their part in the deaths of 39 migrants.
The Vietnamese victims, aged between 15 and 44, suffocated in the back of a trailer as they were shipped to Purfleet, Essex, from Belgium on October 23 last year.
With false promises of a better life in Britain, they were betrayed by greedy criminals who pursued profits of more than £1 million that month alone.
Yesterday, Romanian ringleader Gheorghe Nica, 43, from Basildon, and lorry driver Eamonn Harrison, 24, from County Down, were found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter. The jury also convicted them of a wider people-smuggling plot with lorry driver Christopher Kennedy, 24, Armagh, and Valentin Calota, 38, from Birmingham.
In total, eight people have been convicted in Britain, including haulier boss Ronan Hughes, 41, and 26-year-old lorry driver Maurice Robinson, both from County Armagh, who admitted manslaughter. They will be sentenced over three days in January.
Prosecutors are considering charges against a further three people. The maximum sentence for people-smuggling is 14 years in prison, with manslaughter carrying a possible life sentence.