Truck deaths driver pleads guilty to conspiracy charge

British police arrested another man on Monday in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people, whose lifeless bodies were found in the back of a refrigerated semi-trailer truck in Grays, Essex on Oct 23.

The 36-year-old, from Purfleet in the English county of Essex, was picked up on suspicion of conspiring to traffic people into the country, and on suspicion of collaborating to assist unlawful immigration.

He is being held at a police station in Dalston, in East London, where police are questioning him.

The latest arrest came on the same day as Maurice Robinson, of Craigavon, County Armagh in Northern Ireland, entered a guilty plea to charges of conspiring with others to assist illegal immigration between May 1, 2018, and Oct 24 of this year. Specifically, his charge sheet reads that he plotted with others to carry out "an act or series of acts which facilitated the commission of a breach of immigration law by various persons". He also entered a guilty plea to a charge of acquiring criminal property in the form of cash.

His pleas were accepted by Mr Justice Edis, who presided over the session at the Old Bailey in London.

Robinson appeared via video-link from HM Prison Belmarsh.

He said little, other than to confirm his guilty pleas, his identity, and British nationality.

He will next appear in court on Dec 13, when he could be sentenced.

He is also facing 39 manslaughter charges but has not entered a plea in connection to those charges.

The Guardian newspaper said the 25-year-old is suspected of having participated in a large plot to bring people into the UK illegally.

Another man, Christopher Kennedy, of Darkley in County Armagh, has also been charged in connection with the tragedy and was in court on Monday. He is facing human trafficking charges and appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court where he did not enter a plea.

The British police are seeking the extradition of another man, Eamonn Harrison, from the Republic of Ireland in connection with the case. He appeared at Dublin's central criminal court on Thursday after he was picked up on a European arrest warrant. He is believed to have been the driver of the vehicle when it was delivered to a port in Zeebrugge in Belgium, several hours before it was met by Robinson in Essex, England.

The 39 people who died in the incident comprised eight females and 31 males, including two 15-year-old boys.

Sky News reported that investigators believe Robinson and the others were part of a global smuggling ring and noted that arrests have also been made in Vietnam, where police have detained eight people so far who are suspected of being members of a smuggling ring that has been bringing people to the UK illegally.