UK lorry driver pleads guilty to migrants’ manslaughter

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) – British lorry driver Maurice Robinson pleaded guilty on Wednesday to 39 counts of manslaughter, taking responsibility for the death of 39 Vietnamese migrants who died in the back of his lorry, according to local media.

On Oct. 23 last year, the bodies of the victims were found in a refrigerated lorry driven by Robinson, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland.

He had driven the lorry from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in Essex, where the victims were found. They were thought to have been dead for 12 hours before being found.

Ten of the 39 dead were teenagers, two of whom were only 15-year-old; 31 were men and eight were women.

Robinson previously pleaded guilty to assisting illegal immigration and acquiring criminal property.

Five men including Robinson were charged for the incident. Two were from Romania, another from Northern Ireland, and one from Birmingham, England.

The court hearing was held virtually, with defendants and lawyers appearing via video link due to the coronavirus outbreak.