14:47
Journey of 39 migrants found dead in lorry container ‘fraught with danger’
Thirty-nine Vietnamese nationals were loaded into the back of a lorry in northern Europe on 22 October 2019, the Old Bailey hears.
The migrants - men, women and children, aged between 15 and 44 – included “husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters”, the court is told.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones says: “Obviously, any time you fill an airtight container with a large number of people, where they will be left for hours and hours, with no means of escape and no means of communication with the outside world – well, that is an exercise fraught with danger.”
Mr Emlyn Jones tells the jury that one of the defendants, Eamonn Harrison, drove the migrants to Zeebrugge in Belgium before unhooking his trailer where it was loaded onto a cargo ship bound for Purfleet in Essex.
14:48
Lorry driver transporting migrants told: ‘Give them air quickly, but don’t let them out’
Lorry driver Maurice Robinson collected the trailer containing 39 Vietnamese migrants from Purfleet in Essex when it arrived shortly after midnight on 23 October 2019, the Old Bailey hears.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones tells the jury: “By then, it was getting on for 12 hours – at least – since any meaningful amount of fresh air had been let into the sealed container.”
The court hears that Robinson had received a message from his boss telling him what to do once the lorry was in his control, which read: “Give them air quickly, but don’t let them out”.
14:50
‘Haunted’ driver found migrants ‘suffocated’ in lorry which ‘had become their tomb’
Lorry driver Maurice Robinson discovered the bodies of the 39 migrants inside his trailer when he stopped shortly after leaving Purfleet port in Essex, the Old Bailey hears.
“What he found must haunt him still,” Bill Emlyn Jones QC tells the jury.
“For the 39 men and women inside, that lorry had become their tomb.
“The 28 men, eight women and three children, two of them just 15 years old, had been sealed into that container, in pitch darkness, for at least 11 and three quarter hours.”
The jury hears that the migrants were in a refrigerator unit which had not been switched on and temperatures had reached “an unbearable 38.5C - more than 101F”.
All 39 occupants died as a result of oxygen starvation, suffering hypoxia and the toxic effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide, the court is told.
“In short, they suffocated. There were no survivors,” the prosecutor says.
14:52
‘Team of smugglers’ had previously brought in ‘lorry loads of immigrants’, court hears
The “team of people smugglers” involved in bringing the 39 migrants into the UK had previously brought in “lorry loads of immigrants”, the Old Bailey hears
They included defendants Christopher Kennedy, Gheorghe Nica and Valentin Calota, the prosecutor alleged.
Kennedy, a lorry driver who was not involved in the fatal incident, had been asked by a friend what had happened on the morning of 23 October 2019 – the date the migrants were found dead.
He replied via text: “Must have been 2 many and run out of air”, the court heard.
“What it must have been like inside that lorry does not bear thinking about", prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones OC tells the jury.
14:53
Migrants found dead had desperately tried to alert families, court hears
The 39 migrants found dead in a lorry container in Essex could not call for help because there was no phone signal inside the trailer, the Old Bailey hears.
Some of the victims had desperately tried to alert their families, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones QC tells the jury.
One victim – a 28-year-old woman called Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh – had written a text message on her phone which read “maybe going to die in the container, can’t breathe any more dear”.
The message was marked “unsent”, the court hears.
15:02
Lorry driver accused of manslaughter of 39 migrants ‘had been busily bringing illegal immigrants into UK’
Eamonn Harrison, 23, is charged with 39 counts of manslaughter over the deaths of the 39 migrants found in a lorry container in Essex.
Harrison was driving it when the victims boarded the lorry and when they were shut inside, the prosecutor tells the Old Bailey.
He then drove the migrants to Zeebrugge, where the trailer was loaded on board the ship sailing to England, it is alleged.
Harrison is also charged with conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration.
It is alleged that Harrison had been “busily bringing illegal immigrants into the country by the same method for some considerable time”, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones QC says.
Jurors were told they will hear evidence of “other occasions when Harrison delivered a lorry-load of people to the UK”.
In May 2018, Harrison was stopped at Coquelles, near Calais in France, driving a lorry into the Channel tunnel with 18 Vietnamese nationals concealed inside the back of the vehicle, the court heard.
Harrison denies 39 counts of manslaughter and a charge of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
15:10
Driver who discovered 39 dead migrants called 'key player in operation' before 999, court hears
Gheorghe Nica, 43, is charged with the 39 counts of manslaughter over the deaths of the 39 migrants found in a lorry container in Essex.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones QC tells the jury that "within seconds of the deaths being discovered" by driver Maurice Robinson "Nica knew what had happened".
Nica "was the second person Robinson spoke to, long before Robinson called 999," the prosecutor added.
"The prosecution say that he was a key player in the operation," Mr Emlyn Jones said.
Nica denies the 39 manslaughter charges but has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
15:25
Men accused of being part of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration
The trial over the deaths of 39 migrants found in a lorry container in Essex hears that defendant Christopher Kennedy is not charged with manslaughter but is accused of “being a member of the wider conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration”.
It is alleged that he drove a lorry to Purfleet in Essex and collected trailers with illegal immigrants onboard on 11 October 2019 and 18 October 2019.
Another defendant, Valentin Calota, 37, is also accused of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration.
It is claimed that on 18 October 2019 defendant Eamonn Harrison had delivered a “lorry-load of unlawful immigrants"to Zeebrugge in Belgium and Kennedy had then driven them to an agreed pick up point.
Calota is accused of being one of the drivers brought along by defendant Gheorghe Nica to collect the arrivals and drive them away, over the Dartford crossing and into South East London.
Kennedy and Calota each deny a charge of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
15:32
Two men have already pleaded guilty to manslaughter of 39 migrants
Lorry driver Maurice Robinson, who discovered the bodies of the 39 migrants, has already pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration, the Old Bailey hears.
Robinson, 26, and defendant Eamonn Harrison - who denies 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration - were working for Ronan Hughes, who ran a haulage company based in County Monaghan in Northern Ireland.
Prosecutor Emlyn Jones QC says: "Hughes played a significant role in organising the movement of his drivers, booking the various ferry crossings, and directing the movement of the drivers collecting and delivering lorries so as to ensure that the migrants were collected and shipped across the Channel."
Hughes, 40, has also pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration, the court hears.
