‘I had no idea there were 39 migrants in the back of the lorry’

A haulier accused of being part of a people smuggling network which resulted in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants told a court he thought he was smuggling alcohol not migrants. The victims suffocated due to a lack of oxygen in the back of a lorry on the journey from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet, Essex. Their bodies were discovered in a refrigerated lorry trailer in Grays, Essex, on 23 October 2019. Caolan Gormley, 26, denies conspiracy to assist unlawful…