Essex lorry deaths: Driver earned £100k from people smuggling

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The last gasps of 39 Vietnamese migrants who died trapped in the back of a lorry were played to court today as the hearing was told how a heartless human trafficker whose boss said to give them air callously replied: ‘I can’t, they’re f****** dead.’

Driver Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson, 26, was part of a million-pound people-smuggling ring who brought desperate migrants into Britain in the back of death-trap lorries on multiple occasions – earning him £100,000. 

But their reckless operation came crashing down in October 2019 when Robinson opened the back of his refrigerated trailer in an industrial park in Grays, Essex, to be met with a gush of steam – and 39 bodies. 

Robinson called Ronan Hughes, 40 – the gang’s ringleader – when he found the bodies of the 28 men, eight women and three children who suffocated as temperatures inside soared to 38.5C.

Kingpin Hughes told him to ‘open the doors, give them air’ but Robinson fired back, saying: ‘I can’t, they’re f****** dead.’

The final moments of the dying victims as they gasped for air and cried for help were played at London’s Old Bailey on Thursday.

Nguyen Tho Tuan taped a harrowing final message for his family at 7.37pm. 

The 25-year-old said: ‘It’s Tuan. I am sorry. I cannot take care of you. I am sorry. I am sorry. I cannot breathe. I want to come back to my family. Have a good life.’

Just before 7pm, another victim, Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20, had desperately tried to call Vietnamese emergency services, dialling 133, but phone signal in the trailer had cut out.

Another male victim recorded a message at 8.02pm apologising to his parents and telling them: ‘I have to go.’

A voice in the background can be heard trying to reassure their compatriots, saying: ‘Come on everyone, open up, and open up.’

Moments later, another victim said: ‘He’s dead.’

The original tape, which captures the bravery of the migrants as they realised they were dying, was played before prosecutor Jonathan Polnay translated the messages of the victims.

Translating the first recording Mr Polnay said: ‘”I’m so sorry” – that’s him speaking to his wife and his child – “I’m sorry” – that’s to his mother – “I’m sorry” – and that’s addressed to his whole family. “I cannot breathe. I want to come back to my family. Have a good life.”‘

Referring to the second message Mr Polnay said: ‘He says I can’t breathe, he says his name, I’m sorry to his parents, I have to go. It’s all my fault.

‘And a voice in his the background says: “Come on everyone, open up and open up.”‘

Frantic heavy breathing and crying can be heard in the background of the audio as the two victims recorded their goodbyes to their loved ones.

Jurors saw horrifying footage of steam gushing from the container as Robinson opened the doors after pulling up in Eastern Avenue, Grays, at 1.13am on October 23, 2019.

Fellow driver Eamonn Harrison – who dropped off the trailer in Zeebrugge before it was sailed to Britain – and Romanian fixer Gheorghe Nica, 43, were convicted of 39 counts of manslaughter. 

Nica and Hughes remained expressionless in the dock as the recording was played, while Robinson briefly bowed his head and then returned to gaze stonily ahead.   

Robinson admitted 39 counts of manslaughter and is now facing sentencing – alongside seven other smugglers – at the Old Bailey.  

The court today heard for the first time that Robinson told police he only pulled over to check on their comfort near Purfleet port. 

Robinson picked up the trailer in Purfleet, Essex, after it was transported from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

In reality, a Snapchat message sent to him by kingpin Hughes saying: ‘Give them air quickly but don’t let them out’ prompted him to make the horrific discovery.

He waited more than 20 minutes to make the 999 call after opening the doors to see the victims half-naked having suffocated to death in ‘unbearable’ temperatures.

Details of the brazen lies Robinson fed to police during his interview with officers were also read to the court.

Having initially denied knowledge of the migrants, he eventually came clean but claimed he stopped on Eastern Avenue because: ‘I wanted to make sure those people were comfortable.’

Robinson told police a cash figure of £25,000 was in the attic of his County Armagh home – but officers found no such sum when they searched the property.

By that time, he had hidden his spoils elsewhere and spent some of the fortune he made on refurbishing his girlfriend’s beauty salon.

Robinson appeared in the dock today cleanly shaven and in a black suit alongside his co-conspirators – including Hughes.

Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay said: ‘The message sent from Ronan Hughes to Maurice Robinson showed the awareness of the risk and the need for them to be given air as soon as the trailer was in Robinson’s control.’

He added: ‘In this context, it is submitted that Robinson’s answers in interview are significant. His basis of plea that he was unaware of how many people were on the trailer is not accepted.

‘In his fifth interview, Robinson admitted he knew he was smuggling migrants. However, he said he stopped in Eastern Avenue because: “I wanted to make sure the people inside were comfortable”.’

When he broke the news to Hughes in the moments after opening the doors, the boss told him: ‘Open the doors, give them air.’

Robinson fired back: ‘I can’t, they’re f****** dead.’

After phoning Romanian fixer Gheorghe Nica, 43, he finally rang an ambulance, before throwing his ‘dirty burner’ phone in a ditch by the side of the road and dropping the SIM down a drain.

Mr Polnay said that after calling Hughes, he telephoned ‘the Eastern European man who had shown him out to Collingwood Farm earlier on. He said “Ring an ambulance”‘.

Mr Polnay added: ‘Hughes told him to “get rid of the telephone”. Robinson threw the SIM card down the drain and threw the telephone to the side of the road.

‘He said in interview he had been paid £25,000 in cash. He said he believed the rate at which he was paid was around £1,500 per person. 

‘Most of the money as still in his attic at home… No such [sum of] money was in fact found.

‘At no stage did Robinson tell police about the real reason he had stopped – namely the Snapchat message he had received from Ronan Hughes.

‘The prosecution submits that it’s very significant that that was the one matter he deliberately chose to conceal and lie about.’

Mr Justice Sweeney said today that the sentencing – initially listed for three days – may last longer as facts of the case are disputed by the defence teams.

The court heard Robinson and Hughes denied knowledge of how many migrants were crammed into the back of the lorry on the fatal journey.

A ‘Newton hearing’ – where the judge resolves major factual issues without a jury – may be held to determine key issues in the sentencing, the judge said.

Mr Polnay said: ‘The prosecution submits the conspirators were aware of the number of people being transported in the lorry, and were aware that this was risky.’ 

DCI Daniel Stoten, the officer who lead the Essex Police investigation into the deaths, earlier said that Hughes, 40, made up to £1million each month in his people-smuggling operation.

He spent some of it on vast expanses of Irish land for him and his family – while the rest remains hidden.  

‘Career criminal’ Hughes was ‘brought up on crime’ and had therefore ‘learnt to hide his money,’ DCI Stoten said – but Robinson was ‘a lorry driver just coming into criminality’ so he has a ‘much larger footprint financially’.

DCI Stoten said it was the smugglers’ ‘total greed’ and ‘complacency’ that lead to the deaths as their mercenary bid to do two loads in one was ‘doomed to failure.’ 

The officer added: ‘[Robinson] hasn’t had any money because he’s not been brought up and hasn’t learnt his trade.

‘We can see about £100,000 going through his accounts.

‘They all had their eyes wide open to what they were involved in and they all gained a huge amount of money from this and you can see this from Robinson’s house and his salon. Huge amount of money.

‘His partner has got a salon that has undergone a significant amount of change, upgrade, and he lives in a lovely house.’

The multi-million pound run from Zeebrugge to Purfleet in October 2019 was so well established that Hughes could charge his human cargo £14,000 a head.

Hughes packed as many migrants as he dared into each badly-ventilated container and 28 men, eight women and three children suffocated as temperatures inside soared to 38.5C in October 2019. 

Some tried to batter their way out with a pole as others wrote final heart-breaking text messages to relatives and partners as those around them sobbed in the darkness. 

Lorry drivers Christopher Kennedy, 24, and Valentin Calota, 38, were found guilty of assisting illegal immigration by an Old Bailey jury.

Robinson and Hughes earlier admitted the manslaughter and smuggling charges.

Lorry drivers Christopher Kennedy, 24, and Valentin Calota, 38, were also convicted of their involvement in the international smuggling ring.

Gazmir Nuzi, 42, and Alexandru Hanga, 28, both admitted one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration last year. 

Their involvement was today described as relating to a single occasion in each case – prior to the October 22 tragedy. 

Outlining the gofers’ respective roles, Mr Polnay said: ‘Hanga was involved in the conspiracy on a single occasion on 11 October 2019, having been recruited by Nica.

‘He drove migrants from Collingwood Farm to the safe house in southeast London.

‘Hanga told police that Nica had asked him to help pick up some friends from Grays and take them to London.

‘People came off a truck and rushed to his vehicle. He described himself as feeling “threatened”.

‘Nuzi is to be sentenced for the substantive offence.

‘On October 11, 2019, he attended Collingwood Farm and collected his nephew and another man, both Albanian, who had entered the United Kingdom illegally in trailer T103 during the previous night.

‘When interviewed, he answered ‘no comment’ to all questions he was asked.’ 

DCI Stoten said the traffickers viewed the victims as ‘commodities’ rather than ‘human beings’.

The desperate foreign nationals had paid them around £12,000 each for a ‘VIP’ route to the UK – one of two options offered to them – promising success but not safety.

Even migrants who survived earlier trips with loads of around 15 to 20 compatriots suffered life-threatening conditions.

They typically became short of breath and ‘ill’ towards the end of their journey as carbon dioxide in the confined space reached toxic levels, the police chief said.

But the fatal voyage – in which the smugglers crammed 39 people into the trailer to do two loads in one – was ‘doomed to failure,’ said DCI Stoten.

He said: ‘The VIP option is more about getting them through getting through successfully.’

‘If the lorry driver knows they’re less likely to stop and check the load and kick them out. 

‘That’s more what it was about than their safety. Clearly safety wasn’t a particular concern to these people traffickers.

‘We’ve seen that because they were willing to take absolutely unacceptable risks, by putting 39 people in a container. 

‘They knew that 15 to 20 people per container is a huge risk and actually we know that 15 to 20 people at the end of the journey, they’re short of breath and starting to suffer ill effects.

‘So putting 39 people in there is just an unacceptable risk is doomed to failure but because they were motivated by money they were willing to take the risk, and these poor Vietnamese victims were just a commodity.’

The migrants were picked up at a rendezvous in France by one of the lorry drivers and dropped off at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

From there, they sailed across the English channel to Purfleet where Robinson collected them and drove them to a remote farm in Essex.

Jurors heard Collingwood Farm, near Orsett, was a hotbed for ‘dodgy’ activity, which had been reported to Essex police since the summer of 2019 by concerned resident Marie Andrews.

Ms Andrews told the court police ‘had not been listening’ when she repeatedly voiced her concerns with them.

On October 11, she made three calls on the same day to police when she saw a group of migrants jumping out of a lorry and into a fleet of Mercedes cars.

The cars were organised by British Romanian ringleader Gheorghe Nica, who transported the foreign nationals down to their final destination in London.

Officers attended the scene and searched the premises, but did not check CCTV from the farm or the surrounding area as the smugglers drove off undetected.

DCI Stoten said authorities were ‘snowblind’ to the international gang.

When asked whether opportunities had been missed to catch the smugglers, he replied: ‘Yes.

‘I think we’ve got a view that because so many people were trying to sneak onto lorries that [it] almost became an accepted position whereas there are actually a number of criminal groups so people were a bit snowblind in relation to this. 

‘Now nationally, lorry drivers are instantly treated as a suspect, [and that has changed from the Essex incident] purely,’ DCI Stoten said.

Describing the ‘total greed’ of the smugglers, DCI Stoten said: ‘Ronan Hughes and Gheorghe Nica were the heads of the operation, and the rest of them more logistical. They got the lion’s share of the money paid.

‘Hence why, when there was potentially a missed opportunity to bring people into the UK by doubling up the facilitation of 39 people, because they don’t want to lose the money. Total greed.

‘With people like Nica and Hughes, they’re career criminals and they’ve been brought up on crime. They’ve learnt to hide their money.

‘We do know that the Hughes family live on a large plot of land, completely paid for, the whole family live on quite substantial area of land but otherwise the money has been hidden, and it is hidden.

‘But because of this things have massively changed.’

The officer said CCTV was not checked after Ms Andrews reported the migrant sighting, adding: ‘But what I do know is we responded really quickly. Officers attended the farm.

‘The number plates on Kennedy’s lorry do not activate ANPR so I think they’ve been adapted so they don’t activate ANPR so we were on the backfoot straight away.’

DCI Stoten said that the protocol of officials was previously to arrest the migrants and treat the lorry drivers as ‘victims,’ waving them along.

But attitudes have shifted in the wake of the tragedy so that ‘the people in the back’ are viewed as witnesses while the drivers are now immediately treated as suspects, he said.

‘When this happened, if a lorry [was] stopped with migrants in the back the migrants get arrested and the lorry driver is almost treated as the victim.

‘Whereas with people like Robinson he was a lorry driver just coming into criminality and so we can see a much larger footprint financially for him.

‘He hasn’t had any money because he’s not been brought up and hasn’t learnt his trade.

‘We can see about £100,000 going through his accounts.

‘They all had their eyes wide open to what they were involved in and they all gained a huge amount of money from this and you can see this from Robinson’s house and his salon. Huge amount of money.

‘His partner’s got a salon that has undergone a significant amount of change, upgrade, and he lives in a lovely house.

‘Hughes’ family history is in the haulage industry. His dad runs a haulage company and him and his brother run separate haulage companies.

‘Between 60 and 80 people that we know were brought into the UK in October. You’re talking not far off £1million [made by Hughes] just for October.’

Ronan Hughes was stopped by French border officials a decade ago when he tried to cross the channel with illegal goods.

His people-smuggling trade is likely to have been operating for ‘many many years’ before the 2018 date listed on the official indictment, DCI Stoten said.

‘It’s difficult to say but we’ve seen these defendants on the outskirts of other investigations.

‘I think this has been going on for many, many years. They’re certainly very sophisticated but that has actually led to a lot of complacency, and complacency is what’s led to this happening.

‘It’s almost like they thought we’re always successful, so why not?

‘I don’t know if they lost sight of the fact that they were human beings or they didn’t care from the outset – these human beings were a commodity to them.

‘They and their lorry drivers have been stopped a number of times.

‘Ronan Hughes has been stopped for other commodities in the UK.

‘This is going back a decade. He’s been involved in very similar crimes for the last decade.’

Branding the killers ‘merciless’ DCI Stoten said: ‘Even with the convictions it’s not a cause for celebration.

‘The starting point for this was an utter tragedy that will stay with everyone who was involved and I think we’re just pleased to bring a sense of justice to the families, albeit they will never get over it.

‘None of them have shown remorse.

‘The early guilty pleas were purely because of the amount of evidence against them – no other reason.

‘Merciless is the word I would use.’   

DCI Stoten said Hughes, went into hiding in Ireland and ignored repeated requests to cooperate with police until his extradition in June.

The officer said: ‘Hughes was essentially on the run. We then had to build a very very strong case with the CPS and make sure we got it absolutely right and then we were able to extradite him to the UK.

‘He’s subsequently purely from my point of view because of the extremely high level of evidence against him pleaded guilty.

‘My personal view is that he pleaded guilty due to the completely insurmountable evidence.

‘He stayed in a place where he knew we couldn’t touch him for a great deal of time. We invited him many times [to talk to us.]’

Asked whether there were outstanding suspects and persons of interest, police said there were three, two of whom have already been mentioned during the trial.

Marius Draghici was described in court as the ‘elusive and sinister’ figure in the smuggling ring.

Police confirmed two suspects are being investigated in the UK, along with a third overseas,

There have been eight convictions so far in connection with the smuggling ring in Vietnam.

Kelly Matthews of the CPS said: ‘There are three individual files that are pending, the CPS is currently reviewing material in relation to those individuals. We anticipate bringing future proceedings.’

DCI Stoten added: ‘Two of the three individuals have been mentioned in proceedings already.

‘Two of them are in Europe and one is in the jurisdiction area that covers the UK.’

Jurors heard about a Vietnamese organiser named only as ‘Phuong’, who arranged travel within France after migrants contacted compatriots who had successfully made it to the UK asking for advice on the route.

Police said that the non-EU citizens would typically make their way across to the UK in stages from Vietnam, working in other countries in Europe until they earned enough to pay for travel to a location nearer the English channel.

Essex police have estimated that 1,300 officers and staff have worked on the investigation.

NCA Deputy Director Matthew Long revealed 50 live investigations are under way into organised immigration crime, some of which are directly linked to the tragedy. 

Van driver Calota was the first to appear in the dock this morning, speaking only to confirm his name as his legal team argued he had been ‘misled’ by Nica.

Abdul Iqbal QC, defending, said Calota had played an ‘unsophisticated’ role in comparison to the kingpins.

Mr Iqbal said the 38-year-old had no previous convictions and was recruited at ‘short notice’ to drive a load of non-EU citizens from Essex to Dulwich in south London on October 18 – before the fatal journey on October 23.

The smugglers would typically transport the migrants from the English border to a drop-off on a remote farm in Essex where Nica and his fleet of drivers would take them to the capital.

‘[Calota] has two criminal cautions 2011 and 2015 when he acted dishonestly in a supermarket when he told the jury his work was sporadic and he was trying to make some money in order to survive,’ the barrister said.

‘Calota was recruited by Nica at relatively short notice on October 17 when they needed a driver for 18 October.

‘At least at that stage of recruitment Nica was misleading Calota about the car he would be transporting.

‘One thing Nica did accept is that he had misled Calota at least initially.

‘This was a single isolated offence.

‘The arrangement of insurance in relation to the white van that he drove at Nica’s instructions were given by Nica to him.’

During the trial Calota claimed he had been unable to hear the load of people in the back because wearing earphones and listening to the radio on the hour-long trip.

The jury rejected the account and convicted him of his involvement in the conspiracy last month.

Harrison, from Mayobridge, County Down, was convicted of 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Nica, of Mimosa Close, Langdon Hills, Basildon, Essex, was convicted of 39 counts of manslaughter. He had admitted one of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration.

Kennedy, of Corkley Road, Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and Calota, of Cossington Road, Birmingham, were convicted of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration between 1 May 2018 and 24 October 2019.

Hughes, from Leitrim, Silverstream, Tyholland, Co Monaghan, admitted manslaughter in respect of the 39 deaths and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Robinson, from Craigavon, County Armagh, admitted manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.

The sentencing continues.