Essex lorry deaths: Police officers will 'never forget' the scene

The Vietnamese migrants travelled by ferry from Belgium to Purfleet, before the trailer was opened in Grays

Police officers "will never forget" what they saw upon finding 39 migrants dead in a lorry trailer, a senior detective has said.

Essex Police launched its biggest investigation after the Vietnamese nationals were found near Purfleet, Essex, in October 2019.

A total of 11 people have been convicted in the UK over the case.

The latest, Caolan Gormley, of Caledon, Co Tyrone, was jailed at the Old Bailey for seven years on Thursday.

Det Ch Insp Louise Metcalfe, from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, described the conviction as the "final guilty verdict".

Thirty nine people died in the back of a trailer as it crossed the North Sea between Zeebrugge and the UK

"There can be no greater demonstration of how dangerous the organised criminal networks involved in people smuggling can be than this tragic case," she said.

"These 39 people, all mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, died in the most inhumane way because of the actions of this greed-driven gang of people smugglers."

The men, women and children had paid a fee rising to £13,000 for what was promised as a "VIP" route to Europe.

The migrants had made their way from Vietnam and across Europe to France, before they were taken by lorry towards the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

The lorry was loaded onto a ship which set sail for the port of Purfleet-on-Thames, but the temperature onboard rose up to 39.5C (101F) and rendered the air too toxic for human life.

Det Ch Insp Louise Metcalfe said police officers "will never forget" what they saw inside the trailer

Det Ch Insp Metcalfe said officers were called to a scene "no emergency services responder could ever have prepared for" when reports of the bodies first came in.

"The officers who attended that morning will never forget what they saw in that trailer," she added.

"Every person in that trailer had left behind a family. They had been promised safe passage to our shores and they were lied to. Instead, they were left to die, all because of greed."

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