UK Vietnamese truck deaths: People-smuggler jailed for nearly four years over 2019 deaths of 39 victims
- Dragos Stefan Damian was extradited from Italy to face a UK court following the investigation into the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals found dead in a truck
- In January, four men were jailed for between 27 years and 13 years and four months for manslaughter and plotting to people smuggle in a linked case
A people-smuggler who fled Britain after 39 Vietnamese nationals were found dead in the back of a truck has been jailed for nearly four years.
Dragos Stefan Damian, 28, was extradited from Italy to face a British court following the investigation into the deaths of the men, women and children.
Their bodies were found in a truck trailer after it was transported by ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in the English county of Essex, early on October 23, 2019.
Damian admitted he had been waiting at a pickup point to transport the migrants on to London when the tragedy unfolded.
The Romanian national also admitted he allowed his van to be used on previous occasions, the court heard.
Damian said he felt he could not say no to ringleader Gheorghe Nica who had him “over a barrel”.
After the discovery of the bodies, he said that he fled “part in panic and part in fear”, London’s Old Bailey court heard.
On Monday, Mr Justice Sweeney jailed Damian for 46 months.
Earlier, prosecutor Jonathan Polnay had told the court that Damian had been part of a “sophisticated, long-running and profitable conspiracy” to smuggle mainly Vietnamese migrants into Britain in the back of lorries.
He said: “The defendant’s role was in allowing the use of his van to pick up migrants in the UK and on one occasion travelling to Collingwood Farm himself.”
He had been waiting for new arrivals when truck driver Maurice Robinson discovered the dead migrants after picking up the trailer at Purfleet.
Damian left the area bound for the continent within 11 minutes of Robinson telling his boss Ronan Hughes of the deaths, the court heard.
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Essex truck victims were all Vietnamese nationals, officials confirm
Mr Polnay said: “At 1.17am, Mr Robinson informed Ronan Hughes. At 1.28am – 11 minutes later – Mr Damian drove away from Collingwood Farm obviously having been informed of events because at 7am he left the country departing from Dover docks.”
Damian was arrested just outside Milan and sent back to Britain last September.
In November, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration between May 1, 2018 to October 24, 2019.
As part of the investigation, police identified at least six smuggling trips.
In January, four men were jailed for between 27 years and 13 years and four months for manslaughter and plotting to people smuggle in a linked case.
They were crime bosses Nica, 45, and Hughes, 42, as well as truck drivers Robinson, 27, and Eamonn Harrison, 25.
Three other members of the gang were also jailed for their role in the operation.
