Essex lorry deaths: Caolan Gormley jailed for trafficking offence

A haulier linked to the people smugglers responsible for the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants has been jailed for seven years.

Caolan Gormley was found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration after a trial.

The bodies were found in a lorry trailer near Purfleet, Essex, on 23 October 2019.

Gormley, of Caledon, Co Tyrone, is the 11th defendant to be convicted in the UK in connection with the deaths.

The jury at the Old Bailey heard the defendant had “close dealings” with the traffickers overseeing the fatal trip that night.

The 39 men, women and children inside had paid a fee of £10,000, rising to £13,000, for what was promised as a “VIP” route to Europe and the hope of better-paid work.

Judge Richard Marks KC said Gormley “succumbed to temptation and greed” when approached by one of the people-smuggling ringleaders.

The defendant allowed himself to be drawn into a “sophisticated and profitable conspiracy which was well planned and well organised and you did so purely for financial gain”, said Judge Marks.

He was an associate of one of the smuggling ringleaders, Ronan Hughes, who he had known since he was a teenager, the court heard.

Hughes and a Romanian national, Gheorghe Nica, employed a network of drivers who were “willing and able” to drive migrants from mainland Europe into the UK by lorry, prosecutors said previously.

Gormley, who ran a haulage business, relayed messages from Hughes to one of his own drivers, Christopher Kennedy, who was involved in smuggling the migrants in trailers.

Giving evidence, Gormley told jurors he was in “shock” and “total disbelief” when he heard the victims were dead, and claimed he thought he was only involved in smuggling illegal alcohol into the UK.

Det Ch Insp Louise Metcalfe, from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, has described the conviction as the “final guilty verdict”.