Gheorghe Nica (left), Eamonn Harrison (second, right) at the Old Bailey Court. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Ringleaders Gheorghe Nica, 43, and Ronan Hughes, 41, and drivers Maurice Robinson, 26, and Eamonn Harrison, 24, were give imprisonment sentences on the day.
Nica was given 27 years, Hughes got 20 years in prison, Harrison was sentenced to 18 years, and Robinson was jailed for 13 years and four months - all for 39 counts of manslaughter and a people-smuggling conspiracy.

On October 23, 2019, the bodies of 39 Vietnamese were discovered in the back of a refrigerated lorry at an industrial estate in Grays in Essex, near London.

Autopsies concluded that the provisional cause of the death of the victims was a combination of hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation and hyperthermia, or overheating in an enclosed space./.VNA

Man admits immigration offence in Essex lorry deaths

Gheorghe Nica, 43, accused of manslaughter over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants whose bodies were discovered in the back of a lorry near London, the UK, last year, pleaded guilty to an immigration offence on October 7.

Four jailed in connection with Essex lorry tragedy

Four people have been jailed in connection with the Essex lorry tragedy last year in which 39 Vietnamese citizens died.