Essex lorry deaths: Man extradited from Italy jailed

The bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October 2019

A man has been jailed for nearly four years in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a trailer in Essex.

Dragos-Stefan Damian, 28, admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

He was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Monday after admitting he was going to transport the Vietnamese nationals to London.

Mr Justice Sweeney imprisoned Damian, a Romanian national, for 46 months.

Damian was extradited from Italy in 2021 to face a UK court following the investigation into the deaths of the men, women and children.

Their bodies were found in the trailer after it was transported by ferry from Zeebrugge to Purfleet in October, 2019.

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

Damian, who stood to make £1,000 that night, also admitted he allowed his van to be used on previous occasions, the court heard.

The court was told Damian felt he could not say no to ringleader Gheorghe Nica who had him "over a barrel".

He said that he fled "part in panic and part in fear" after the discovery of the bodies, the court heard.

Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay told the court Damian had been part of a "sophisticated, long-running and profitable conspiracy" to smuggle mainly Vietnamese migrants into the UK in the back of lorries.

He said: "The defendant's role was in allowing the use of his van to pick up migrants in the UK and on one occasion travelling to Collingwood Farm himself."

He had been waiting for new arrivals when lorry driver Maurice Robinson discovered the dead migrants after picking up the trailer at Purfleet.

Damian left within 11 minutes of Robinson informing his boss Ronan Hughes of the deaths, the court heard.

Damian was arrested just outside Milan and sent back to Britain last September.

In January last year, four men were jailed for between 27 years and 13 years and four months for manslaughter and plotting to people smuggle.

They were Gheorghe Nica, 44, from Basildon, and Ronan Hughes, 42, of Armagh, and lorry drivers Maurice Robinson, 27, of Craigavon, and Eamonn Harrison, 24, of County Down.

Three other members of the gang were also jailed.