7.6 C
London
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Essex lorry deaths: Man ordered to pay £180,000 to families

Ronan HughesEssex Police

A man convicted over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a lorry container has been ordered to pay their families more than £180,000.

The men, women and children suffocated en route from Zeebrugge to Purfleet, Essex, in October 2019.

Ronan Hughes, 43, of Armagh, Northern Ireland, was jailed for 20 years after admitting manslaughter.

At the Old Bailey, Judge Mark Lucraft KC said the penalty for defaulting on the order was two years in prison.

The court heard available assets included cash, bank accounts, the value of lorries, including the one in which the victims died, and Hughes’s share of a property in Ireland.

From top left: Dinh Dinh Binh, Nguyen Minh Quang, Nguyen Huy Phong, Le Van Ha, Nguyen Van Hiep, Bui Phan Thang, Nguyen Van Hung, Nguyen Huy Hung, Nguyen Tien Dung, Pham Thi Tra My, Tran Khanh Tho, Nguyen Van Nhan, Vo Ngoc Nam, Vo Van Linh, Nguyen Ba Vu Hung, Vo Nhan Du, Tran Hai Loc, Tran Manh Hung, Nguyen Thi Van, Bui Thi Nhung, Hoang Van Tiep, Tran Thi Ngoc, Phan Thi Thanh, Tran Thi Tho, Duong Minh Tuan, Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, Tran Thi Mai Nhung, Le Trong Thanh, Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Hoang Van Hoi, Tran Ngoc Hieu, Cao Tien Dung, Dinh Dinh Thai Quyen, Dang Huu Tuyen, Nguyen Dinh Luong, Cao Huy Thanh Nguyen Trong Thai, Nguyen Tho Tuan and Nguyen Dinh Tu

The judge ordered that the confiscated sum of £182,078.90 be paid in compensation “to the families of those killed in this terrible tragedy”.

Hughes was described as “a ringleader of a people smuggling ring” at a previous hearing at the same court in London.

The bodies of the Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate in Grays in Essex, soon after the lorry arrived in the UK on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Ten teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys, were among the dead.

An inquest heard their medical cause of death was asphyxia and hyperthermia, as temperatures rose in the back of the sealed lorry container and oxygen levels dropped.

lorry

PA Media

Previously, three other men were jailed for between 27 years and 13 years and four months for manslaughter and plotting to smuggle people.

Other members of the gang have been jailed for their role in the operation.

presentational grey line

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]

Latest news
Related news

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here