This archive report was first published on 26 November 2019.
Published on November 26, 2019, a 25-year-old truck driver from Northern Ireland, Maurice Robinson, appeared via video link at London's Central Criminal Court from the high-security Belmarsh prison, southeast London, and pleaded guilty to two of the 43 charges levelled against him.
The bodies of eight women and 31 men were discovered in a refrigeration trailer on an industrial estate east of London in the early hours of October 23.
Robinson, who faces 39 charges of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and money laundering, admitted to conspiring with others to commit an offence of assisting unlawful immigration and the acquisition of cash that came from criminal conduct.
He did not enter pleas on the other charges and is due to appear before the same court again on December 13.
Another lorry driver from Northern Ireland, Christopher Kennedy, 23, was also ordered to appear at the Old Bailey on the same date after a separate court hearing.
The incident has laid bare the dangers of illegal migration in Britain, where Vietnamese nationals have often found work in nail bars or illegal cannabis farms.
