Two men have been found guilty of the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese men, women, and children who suffocated inside a lorry trailer as they were smuggled into Britain last October. The jury also found George Nica and Eamon Harrison guilty of conspiracy to assist illegal immigration. Home Affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford has been following the case.
The Emergency Call
Caller’s voice: Hello, caller's patient breathing.
Operator: Hello.
Caller: No, I'm a lorry driver, and I just lifted a trailer from the port.
One of the people smugglers on the phone to the 999 operator:
Caller: There's immigrants in the back, but they're... they're all lying on the ground.
Operator: Tell me, approximately how many patients?
Caller: Hey... 25.
Operator: 25 patients not breathing?
Caller: Yeah, yeah.
But Mo Robinson was lying. Police officers found the bodies of 39 Vietnamese. Robinson pleaded guilty to manslaughter, as did his boss, Ronan Hughes. Today, another ringleader, George Nica, and another lorry driver, Eamon Harrison, were also found guilty.
The People Smugglers' Operations
The criminals involved in this case made their money from misery. They knew what they were doing was dangerous but did it anyway.
Their 39 victims had boarded what they had been promised was a VIP service. Among them were two cousins: Rin Van Hung and 18-year-old Hoan Van. In Vietnam, the teenager's father still prays for him daily. His mother told us they thought they were paying £10,000 for a safe route to England.
Victim’s mother: Nobody knew that the journey to the UK was going to be like that. If they had known, nobody would have let their children risk their lives on such a dangerous journey.
The older cousin’s father thinks he was tricked:
Father: I don't know what happened, but something must have changed in that plan. Either that or he was scammed.
The Fatal Journey
Pham Thi Tra My died trying repeatedly to call her family. She had only left Vietnam a few days earlier, traveling via China. Others came through countries as diverse as Russia, Germany, and Portugal.
For most, the last stage of their journey began in Paris: first, a taxi ride to northern France. There, they were transferred into an airtight trailer, towed by a man, Harrison, who took them to Zeebrugge to travel unaccompanied to Essex.
But there were too many migrants in the airtight box, and slowly the oxygen ran out. Nguyen Tho Oi left a message for his children:
Victim’s message: I'm sorry I cannot take care of you. I'm sorry I cannot breathe.
Police found dents on the ceiling of the trailer left by those inside, trying desperately to escape.
Mo Robinson, who collected the trailer from Purfleet Docks, had received an urgent message from his boss, Ronan Hughes:
Boss’s message: Give them air quickly. Don't let them out.
But when he opened the doors, there was a puff of vapor and a trailer full of bodies. The VIP service had been a death trap.
Missed Opportunities
Ronan Hughes and George Nica, seen here handing over a large bag of money, led the people-smuggling gang.
There had been an opportunity to stop them. A previous run on the same route just days before was caught on CCTV and reported to the police. A couple whose home overlooks the site saw around 15 people getting out of the truck and into a group of waiting cars. They called the police, but the people-smuggling gang wasn’t identified until after the 39 deaths, 12 days later.
The Aftermath
The bodies of those who died on the fatal run were flown home to Vietnam. The two cousins were buried side by side.
Daniel Sandford, BBC News.
Source: BBC News. (2020, December 21). Men guilty of causing deaths of 39 Vietnamese people who suffocated in lorry - BBC News [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3vmTjP1jmE