A lorry driver has been charged with killing 39 migrants who were found dead in a trailer in Essex.

Maurice 'Mo' Robinson, 25, is due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court in the UK on Monday.

He is charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.

Robinson, who is known as Mo and is from Northern Ireland, was arrested shortly after the bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in the refrigerated trailer in an industrial park in Grays in the early hours of Wednesday.

Earlier today, gardai arrested a man who is a person of interest in the massive investigation into the Essex smuggling tragedy in which 39 people died. The man, who is in his mid 20s, was detained by officers at Dublin port this afternoon after he left a ferry that had landed from France.

The man was detained on a garda warrant, which was issued for his arrest in connection with a separate crime.

He is the fifth person from the island of Ireland arrested who is a “person of interest” in the international investigation into the Essex tragedy.

The latest arrest was made by gardai including members of the national immigration unit following an intelligence led operation.

In a press conference this afternoon, Essex police said that establishing the identities of the victims will take time and while they cannot confirm the identities, they will focus on engagement with the Vietnamese community.

However they added that they cannot rule out that nationalities other than Vietnamese are among the victims.

Detective Chief Inspector Pasmore added that all of the victims had been recovered from the trailer and were now at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

A lack of documentation among the lorry trailer victims found in Essex means police will have to piece together their identities through fingerprints, DNA and other information.

Expand Close Detective Inspector Martin Pasmore of Essex police speaks to the news media at Grays police station regarding the deaths of thirty-nine immigrants who were found inside a lorry, Essex, Britain October 26, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls REUTERS / Facebook

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Whatsapp Detective Inspector Martin Pasmore of Essex police speaks to the news media at Grays police station regarding the deaths of thirty-nine immigrants who were found inside a lorry, Essex, Britain October 26, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Investigating officers will be examining post-mortem evidence and seeing whether distinguishing features such as teeth, tattoos, marks or scars could help with the identification process.

Mr Pasmore explained that while fingerprint data could be gathered from Vietnam, accessing information from the UK Vietnamese community was a more "complex scenario".

Mr Pasmore said: "It may well be that there are people watching this tonight that are thinking 'I'm here in the UK and I'm here illegally and I want to come forward, I want to obviously try and identify my loved ones and be reunited', but they are frightened to come forward."

He explained he had met with a "facilitator" of one of the websites used by Vietnamese people to help build trust between the community and the police.

Mr Pasmore said he hoped it would help encourage people to "take that leap of faith" and make contact with his officers.

He added: "If you come in to us we will do everything we can to put our arm around you, take you through this process, identify as quickly as possible to see whether or not we do indeed have one of your loved ones involved in this tragic incident."

Mr Pasmore said investigating officers may have to try and track down families to get DNA comparisons to help identify the victims.

Links have also been established with Vietnamese officials in the UK, with Mr Pasmore meeting the country's ambassador on Saturday morning.

"We are building a really good and rapid rapport," Mr Pasmore said.

He added: "We are already agreeing a method of sharing fingerprints which may be a fast-track method of identifying some of our victims."

Meanwhile, an Irish couple were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people in connection with the deaths of the 39 migrants.

The couple – who are both aged 38 – remained in police custody last night in Cheshire.

They were arrested at their home in Warrington in England and are understood to have been held on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and on suspicion of 39 counts of manslaughter.

It’s understood that the woman was reportedly the last registered owner of the truck but that she may have sold it since.

Police carried out searches of the couple's home, near to Liverpool and bought for over €295,000 in March 2017 before carrying out renovations.

The couple are parents to three teenage children, two boys, 18 and 11, and a girl of 15.

The identity of the couple is not being reported in the Irish Independent for legal reasons.

It's understood the 38-year-old male has lived in England for a number of years and has no criminal convictions in this country.

His family in Ireland declined to comment on his arrest yesterday evening.

Local people were reluctant to speak about the matter but one man from the area said they were a well-known family and he remembered him from before he moved to England.

It is understood that he previously worked as a truck driver.

The 39 bodies were found in a truck container at an industrial estate in Essex having arrived in Britain about an hour-and-a-half earlier after being shipped from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

An international investigation is taking place to establish how the migrants came to be in the back of the truck and who is responsible for trafficking them to the UK.

Officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) are continuing to help English police and the PSNI with their investigation into the tragedy.

Gardaí are conducting inquiries in relation to the registrations and movements of the refrigerated container and the Irish-owned truck.

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