Haulage boss on trial over people-smuggling ring linked to deaths of 39 people

Caolan Gormley, 26, from Co Tyrone, allegedly plotted to bring migrants into the UK from mainland Europe three times in October 2019.

A haulage boss has gone on trial accused of being involved in a people-smuggling ring linked to the deaths of 39 men, women and children in Essex (PA) (PA Archive)

A haulage boss has gone on trial accused of being involved in a people-smuggling ring linked to the deaths of 39 men, women and children in Essex.

Caolan Gormley, 26, from Co Tyrone, allegedly plotted to bring migrants into the UK from mainland Europe three times in October 2019.

One of the trips was scuppered by French border officials, with some migrants from that trip believed to have died days later in a fatal run overnight on October 22-23 2019.

The other trip was thwarted by customs officials in France. Remarkably, the driver on that occasion – Kennedy – was effectively given a slap on the wrists and told to go on his way. The migrants were similarly allowed to go

Prosecutor Ben Holt

Opening Gormley’s trial on Monday, Ben Holt told jurors that migrants’ desperation made them vulnerable to exploitation.

The prosecutor said: “There are huge sums of money to be made – you will hear evidence of upwards of £10,000 per person being paid just to cross the English Channel in the back of a lorry. That kind of money attracts organised criminals, generally referred to as people smugglers or human traffickers.

“In particular, so far as this defendant is concerned, it is about three specific plans to bring migrants into the UK in the back of lorries. On one occasion, the lorry was stopped at the French border and the plan was scuppered. On the other two, migrants were successfully unloaded at Collingwood Farm, a rural location in Essex.

“We will also hear something of a subsequent journey, a journey that would have a tragic, fatal ending for the 39 migrants inside the lorry. There is no evidence to suggest that this defendant was directly involved with that operation.

“That is fortunate so far as he is concerned because what the evidence will reveal is that he had close dealings with those who were both before and, we say significantly, after it had taken place.”

Jurors were told a number of people smugglers have been convicted for their part of the operation.

Ronan Hughes, an Irish haulier, and Romanian Gheorghe Nica were said to have been in charge of a network of drivers “willing and able” to take lorry loads of migrants to the UK.

Gormley was an associate of Hughes and the boss of driver Christopher Kennedy, jurors were told.

Mr Holt said typical phone contact would be between Hughes and Gormley, who would then contact Kennedy.

Towards the end, Hughes and Kennedy were in direct contact using “dirty phones”, it was alleged.

The three trips alleged to have involved Gormley were overnight on October 10 to 11, the thwarted run of October 14 to 15 and October 18 to 19, just days before the tragedy.

Mr Holt said: “On the first two of those dates we will hear evidence from residents at a rural location in Essex who saw migrants jumping out of the back of a lorry before being whisked away by vehicles to their onward destinations.

“The other trip was thwarted by customs officials in France. Remarkably, the driver on that occasion – Kennedy – was effectively given a slap on the wrists and told to go on his way. The migrants were similarly allowed to go.

“Tragically some of those migrants would end up in the lorry part of the 39 men, women and children who died during the night (of) October 22 and 23.”

That night, driver Maurice Robinson had collected the lorry container rather than Kennedy and found the migrants dead.

He contacted Hughes, who then tried to contact Gormley, “no doubt to relay the news of what had taken place”, Mr Holt said.

Gormley has accepted being in regular contact with Hughes over transport work but denies knowing it involved people smuggling.

Mr Holt said: “The height of criminality he was aware of was a scheme to bring alcohol into the UK in such a way that duty would be evaded.

“We say that cannot be right. We say that it is implausible that he would be cut out of such profitable business by his close associates.”

Gormley denies a single charge of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. The trial continues.