4 years ago
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Essex Police
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Ronan Hughes admitted manslaughter and conspiring to assist unlawful immigration
A man has admitted manslaughter after the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a lorry container in Essex.
The men, women and children were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October in Grays.
Haulier Ronan Hughes, 40, of County Armagh, Northern Ireland, admitted manslaughter and conspiring to assist unlawful immigration at the Old Bailey.
A second man, Eamonn Harrison, 23, of Mayobridge, County Down, denied 39 charges of manslaughter.
He also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to assist unlawful immigration and faces a trial in October.
The bodies of the Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate soon after the lorry arrived in the UK on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.
Image copyright PA Media Image caption The bodies were discovered in a refrigerated trailerTen teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys, were among the dead.
Earlier this year, lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 25, of Craigavon, County Armagh, pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
