Essex lorry deaths: Four to pay £31k to victims' families

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

Four of the men convicted over the deaths of 39 migrants found in a lorry in 2019 have been ordered to pay £31,493.47 to the victims' families.

Maurice Robinson, Christopher Kennedy, Valentin Calota and Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga were all jailed in connection with the deaths.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said they made "significant sums of money".

Darren Fox from the CPS said the men "profited from smuggling people".

The bodies of the Vietnamese migrants were discovered in a refrigerated lorry trailer in Purfleet, Essex on 23 October 2019.

The victims, aged between 15 and 44, had suffocated on their way to the port from Belgium on a ferry.

'Profited'

Robinson, 26, from County Armagh, was jailed for 13 years and four months for manslaughter and money laundering.

Hanga, 29, of Hobart Road, Tilbury, Essex, was given a three-year sentence for conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration. Kennedy, 25, from County Armagh, who was jailed for seven years for the same offence and Calota, 38, of Birmingham, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration.

• The supposed 'VIP' journey that killed 39 people

Following the four men's convictions, the CPS sought to have money made by them confiscated for the benefit of the victims' families.

Robinson has been ordered to pay £21,262, Hanga £3,000, Calota £1,137 and Kennedy £6,094.

Mr Fox said the four men "profited alongside other co-conspirators from this incident".

"However, we will never know the true extent of the benefit from this tragedy," he added.