Essex lorry deaths: Maurice Robinson 'blind to people-smuggling risks'

Maurice Robinson admitted manslaughter of the 39 Vietnamese migrants

A lorry driver who found the bodies of 39 migrants in his trailer was "blind to the risks" of people smuggling, a sentencing hearing was told.

Maurice Robinson, 26, opened the sealed container in Grays in Essex in October 2019 and found the Vietnamese migrants had all suffocated.

His barrister told the Old Bailey that Robinson, from County Armagh, "is horrified by what he saw".

He admitted manslaughter and involvement in the trafficking plot.

Robinson, who also admitted money laundering, is one of eight men being sentenced for their role in the people-smuggling operation dating back to May 2018.

The bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October last year

The migrants, aged 15 to 44, were in the container for at least 12 hours as it was shipped from Belgium to Purfleet in Essex.

Prosecutors said temperatures reached an "unbearable" 38.5C (101F).

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Robinson's boss Ronan Hughes, 41, had told him to give them air quickly after collecting the trailer from the docks.

"I can't, they are [expletive] dead," Robinson, who had called Hughes before dialling the emergency services, replied.

In mitigation, Tyrone Smith QC said Robinson was "horrified by his role in bringing about these deaths".

The court heard Robinson had been a "hard-working and well-liked young man" and at the time of the deaths his partner had been pregnant.

After receiving this message from his boss, Robinson got out of his cab, opened the trailer door and discovered the bodies

Mr Smith accepted Robinson had misled authorities by failing to disclose Hughes had sent him the message instructing him to "give them air quickly, don't let them out".

He added Robinson had been "brave" in giving full details to police, which incriminated himself and others.

Mr Smith said: "He was blind to the risks we can now say were obvious and should have been obvious to him.

"It has taken these awful events for the defendant to reflect properly on what he has done."

The moment lorry driver Maurice Robinson opened the trailer door and discovered the bodies inside was captured on CCTV

Haulier boss Hughes, of Tyholland in County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, also admitted manslaughter and in mitigation his barrister, Tim Moloney QC, said he "did not intend any harm to migrants".

"It was not obvious to him the actions created the risk of death or serious harm," he said.

"Mr Hughes is clear, prior to the Clementine [ship] setting off, he did not know there were close to 40 migrants in the container.

"He does not say if he had known there were 39 he would have refused to continue."

Ronan Hughes did not know the number of migrants in the container, said his barrister

If he had known earlier he would still have carried on with the enterprise, but Hughes's barrister added: "That's not because he did not care less what happened to the migrants."

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Eamonn Harrison, 24, from County Down, had transported the migrants to Zeebrugge and was found guilty of people-smuggling and manslaughter.

His lawyer Alisdair Williamson QC said he was an "inadequate young man" with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but not "cynical or greedy".

Gheorghe Nica and Eamonn Harrison were both found guilty of manslaughter

Mr Williamson said Harrison had been working for Hughes to pay off his debt after crashing one of his trucks while drunk and "must bear the burden of his actions for the rest of his life".

On Thursday, the court was played the victim's messages to their families as they struggled to breathe inside the trailer.

The 39 people who died in the back of a trailer as it crossed the North Sea between Zeebrugge and the UK

Gheorghe Nica, 43, from Basildon, in Essex, has been convicted of manslaughter and people-smuggling and was responsible for organising onward transport after the migrants arrived in Hughes's lorries.

His barrister Aftab Jafferjee QC said the victim's messages were "plainly moving, but it is accepted on both sides harm was never in the contemplation of anyone".

The four men will be sentenced alongside Christopher Kennedy, 24, from County Armagh; Valentin Calota, 38, from Birmingham; Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 28, of Hobart Road, Tilbury, Essex; and Gazmir Nuzi, 43, of Tottenham, north London, who were convicted for their role in the smuggling operation.

The sentencing hearing continues.

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