A lorry driver has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 39 people who were found dead in the back of a refrigerated container in Essex.

Maurice Robinson, 25, from Craigavon in Northern Ireland, entered his plea at the Old Bailey.

Emergency services discovered the bodies of the Vietnamese nationals at an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, shortly after the lorry arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium in the early hours of October 23 last year.

Image: Forensic officers investigate the lorry in which the bodies were found

The men, women and children killed included 10 teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys.

Five men charged after an investigation by Essex Police appeared for a virtual hearing at the Old Bailey before Mr Justice Sweeney.


Robinson had previously admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.

At the hearing on Wednesday, the truck driver also admitted 39 counts of manslaughter on or before 24 October last year.

Robinson, who denied a further charge of transferring criminal property, appeared at court via video link alongside four other co-defendants.

British Romanian Gheorghe Nica, 43, of Mimosa Close in Langdon Hills, denied 39 counts of manslaughter.

Image: The Waterglade Industrial Park where the 39 bodies were found in a lorry container

He also denied one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration between 1 May2018 and 24 October 2019.

Romanian national Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 27, of Hobart Road in Tilbury, denied a charge of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Christopher Kennedy, 23, of Corkley Road in Darkley, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, has previously denied conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration

Valentin Calota, 37, of Cossington Road in Birmingham, was not asked to enter a plea to the charge of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones QC said a human trafficking conspiracy charge was being dropped in relation to Kennedy and Robinson.

Image: A vigil outside the Home Office for those who died

He requested three weeks to decide whether to proceed with a trial against Robinson on the outstanding charge he faced.

The other defendants are scheduled to face a trial at the Old Bailey lasting up to eight weeks from October 5.

The court hearing was conducted virtually with most lawyers and court reporters attending by Skype.