People smuggler branded Audi used to import immigrants a ‘funeral car’, court hears

A people smuggler accused of killing 39 migrants who died in a lorry called another vehicle used to import illegal immigrants a ‘funeral car,’ a court heard today.

Irish truck driver Eamonn Harrison, 23, and British-Romanian Gheorghe Nica, 43, are standing trial at the Old Bailey over the manslaughter of the Vietnamese immigrants who were found in a container near Grays, Essex, on October 23 last year.

Valentin Calota, 37, and Christopher Kennedy, 24, are also said to have been linked to a global smuggling ring driving truckloads of foreign nationals into the UK.

The victims, including two 15-year-old boys, were found suffocated to death in an airtight trailer driven by Maurice Robinson, 26, which ‘became a tomb’.

They were identified as coming from various provinces in Vietnam and allegedly paid up to £10,000 each to be ferried into the country in search of economic opportunity.

Police and forensic officers at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, on October 23, 2019 after 39 bodies of Vietnamese migrants were found inside the lorry on the estate

Harrison is said to have driven the truck to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge before it boarded a ferry for the trip to Purfleet in Essex.

The four had allegedly carried out the elaborate operation on numerous occasions, even after Harrison was caught hiding illegal immigrants in his lorry in 2018. He was let off with a fine but never paid the money.

Lorry driver Eamonn Harrison, 23, of County Down, is charged with manslaughter

Lorry driver Eamonn Harrison, 23, of County Down, is charged with manslaughter

Weeks before the tragedy, Kennedy allegedly loaded ’15 to 20′ foreign nationals into the back of his truck in Purfleet and drove in convoy with the other smugglers to a remote farm.

Two residents who lived on Collingwood Farm in Grays, Essex watched the illegal immigrants jump out of the back of the truck.

The migrants had been dropped off at Zeebrugge by Harrison, before ‘ringleader’ Nica, who admits assisting unlawful immigration, arranged transport in the UK, it was said.

Nica joked with driver Alexandru Hanga, 27, who also admits the charge, to meet him in his ‘funeral car’ – a black Audi estate – and follow Kennedy’s truck to the drop-off point, jurors heard.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said of the events on 11 October: ‘For no conceivable legitimate reason, Kennedy drove his lorry from the port to Collingwood Farm in Orsett, something of a backwater.

Gheorghe Nica (left) and Eamonn Harrison (right), two of four men on trial at the Old Bailey in London, are pictured in a court sketch drawn yesterday by artist Elizabeth Cook

Gheorghe Nica (left) and Eamonn Harrison (right), two of four men on trial at the Old Bailey in London, are pictured in a court sketch drawn yesterday by artist Elizabeth Cook

‘He did not make the trip alone. By the time he passed Orsett Golf Club at 8.18 a.m., CCTV shows him to be driving in convoy with the following others.

Who is charged with what in the lorry case? 

Eamonn Harrison, 23

  • Denies 39 counts of manslaughter
  • Denies conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration

Gheorghe Nica, 43

  • Denies 39 counts of manslaughter
  • Admits conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration

Valentin Calota, 37

  • Denies conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration

Christopher Kennedy, 24

  • Denies conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration

Maurice Robinson, 26

  • Admits 39 counts of manslaughter
  • Admits conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration

Ronan Hughes, 41

  • Admits 39 counts of manslaughter 
  • Admits conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration

‘Nica was also making plans for the next morning – and was in touch with Hanga.

‘We will see Hanga’s car on the CCTV shortly, and that reference to ‘your funeral car’ is because Hanga was driving a large black Audi which Nica obviously thought looked a bit like a hearse.

‘Nica indicated to Hanga that they would be starting at something like 6 or 7 o’clock the next morning.’

Reading from a WhatsApp exchange between Nica and Hanga, Mr Emlyn Jones said: ‘A message from Nica to Hanga: ‘I know that tomorrow morning. Have you got your funeral car okay?’

‘Go close we will speak in the morning I am coming with you.’

‘Hanga asks: ‘What does morning mean to you? What time?”

They allegedly drove together with Marius Draghici and Gazmir Nuzi who were in Mercedes saloons, and with Kennedy in the lorry, to where the witnesses spotted the migrants emerge.

Mr Emlyn Jones said: ‘Marie Andrews and Stewart Cox live on Collingwood Farm, Orsett.

‘At 8.22am, they saw the maroon red lorry with a white trailer pull up, together with what they thought were all Mercedes vehicles.

‘As they watched, Marie Andrews and Stewart Cox saw the trailer doors open and they saw what they thought was about 15 to 20 people jump out of the lorry and run to the waiting Mercedes cars and then those cars, fully laden with migrants, drove away at speed, no messing about.’

The prosecutor said that GPS tracking data showed Harrison making a number of illegitimate stops across Belgium and France.

‘Whatever any of those stops were for, they were not to pick up some legitimate load – because the trailer he delivered to Zeebrugge contained people, it did not contain onions, or biscuits or chipolatas.’

A court artist's sketch drawn yesterday of Christopher Kennedy (left) and Valentin Calota (right), the other two men on trial at the Old Bailey in London

A court artist’s sketch drawn yesterday of Christopher Kennedy (left) and Valentin Calota (right), the other two men on trial at the Old Bailey in London

Later, the court also heard that Kennedy claims he stopped near Calais ‘like a clown’ where opportunistic migrants jumped into his lorry without his knowledge.

He ‘squashed in’ the foreign nationals with a legitimate load for UK importers Midlane West when he was caught by French authorities, jurors were told.

A Midlane West worker allegedly sent Kennedy a message about his journey on October 14, saying: ‘Hi mate all OK? Nothing wrong with load is there cos had email saying immigrations on board.’

The accused people smuggler claimed he had stopped at a supermarket near Calais in France and his boss was ‘going mad’.

In the exchange read to jurors, Kennedy said: ‘Nothing wrong. I stopped at Pidou like a clown. Boss man going mad. Won’t be doing that again.’

‘Yeah, best not. Dry load,’ came the reply.

Mr Emlyn Jones said: ‘Midlane West were the importers of the legitimate load that Kennedy had in his lorry – the migrants were squashed in with a legitimate consignment of goods and Midlane West were anxious to know what was going on there.

‘And you see the explanation Kennedy gave for what had happened. Pidou is a supermarket, there are two branches on the outskirts of Calais; it looks like Kennedy was implying that ‘like a clown’ he had taken his lorry to a place where opportunist migrants had climbed aboard without him knowing.

‘That remains his case – that he had no idea about the immigrants on board – not that night, not on the 11 at Collingwood Farm, not the next time he went to Collingwood Farm on the 18 to drop them off either.’

He had travelled to France earlier in the day and met Harrison, according to cell-site data and messages between the pair, prosecutors claim.

The court also heard migrants were ‘squashed’ inside a lorry load of Belgian biscuits as they were ferried across the English Channel by the people smuggling ring.

The non-EU citizens sailed in a cargo ship – the Victorine – and were picked up days before 39 Vietnamese nationals suffocated to death in the back of the lorry.

Robinson collected two legitimate loads of confectionery from Delice deComines and Biscuits Popelier before meeting his alleged accomplice Harrison and swapping vehicles, the court was told.

The prosecutor went on: ‘The ship, the Victorine, sailed at 10pm. As we shall see from the events surrounding its arrival in Essex, there was another load of migrants on board, although there was one difference this time – the migrants were squashed in with a legitimate load of biscuits as well.

‘On the evening of October 16, Ronan Hughes had sent some instructions to Maurice Robinson, for the pickup of two loads of biscuits – the first from Delice de Comines and the second from Biscuits Popelier – both in Belgium.

‘Later that night Robinson set sail for the continent, pulling Hughes’ new trailer, GTR128D. He went straight to the location of the first biscuit pick up, Delice de Comines, and bedded down for the night.’

Harrison then crossed the channel to meet the alleged co-conspirator in Belgium after the food had been collected and picked up the lorry.

Instead of driving to the coast, he made his way to Nieppe, where he was ‘fiddling around’ for almost half an hour on the outskirts of an industrial estate, the court heard.

‘This time he spends almost half an hour there fiddling about. What was he doing? Remember, his trailer was already full of biscuits, so he was not collecting any legitimate load,’ Mr Emlyn Jones said.

Harrison, from County Down, Northern Ireland, denies 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Nica, of Basildon, Essex, denies 39 counts of manslaughter but admits one of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration.

Kennedy, of County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and Calota, of Birmingham, each deny conspiring to assist unlawful immigration between May 1, 2018 and October 24, 2019.

The trial continues.