Haulier to enter plea in connection with deaths of 39 migrants in Essex

He will be appearing at the Old Bailey for a plea and trial preparation hearing

Author: Lettie BuxtonPublished 14th Apr 2021

A haulier from Northern Ireland will be entering his plea today (14 April), in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a refrigerated container in Essex in 2019.

Caolan Gormley, aged 23 and of Kedew Road in Caledon, County Tyrone, faces a charge of conspiracy to assist illegal immigration.

He will be appearing at the Old Bailey for a plea and trial preparation hearing.

The bodies of the Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate in Grays shortly after the container arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium in the early hours of 23 October, 2019.

Among the men, women and children were 10 teenagers, two of them 15 year-old boys.

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