Tyrone man Caolan Gormley guilty of trafficking offences

TRONE man was the final person charged in connection with an investigation into the tragic deaths of 39 Vietnamese people in Essex has been found guilty of his part in the conspiracy.

Caolan Gormley(26), from Caledon, Co Tyrone, is the eleventh person to be convicted as a result of the complex and far-reaching investigation.

The investigation was launched in the early hours of Wednesday, October 23 2019, when 39 Vietnamese men, women and children were found unresponsive in the trailer of a lorry by its driver, in Eastern Avenue, Grays, Essex.

The lorry had travelled from Zeebrugge in Belgium to the Port of Purfleet, in Essex.

Each of the 39 victims, and their families, had paid significant sums of money to an organised criminal group whose members promised them safe passage to the UK and a life here.

The investigation, alongside the National Crime Agency (NCA) and other international partners, has been far-reaching and has uncovered an international human trafficking conspiracy, which has ultimately led to the conviction of 11 people here in the UK and Ireland as well as 18 people earlier this month in France.

Gormley was one of a number of “willing” hauliers who worked under smugglers Ronan Hughes and Gheorghe Nica, both of whom have previously been convicted and jailed.

Gormley was accused of being a close associate of Hughes and oversaw the work of the also-convicted lorry driver Christopher Kennedy.

He was also accused of being involved in three specific plans to bring migrants to the UK in the back of lorries.

On one occasion, the lorry was stopped at the French border. On the other two, migrants were successfully unloaded at Collingwood Farm, a rural location in Orsett, Essex.

There is no evidence to suggest Gormley was directly involved in the specific incident which led to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants. However, he was involved in the wider people trafficking conspiracy.

During the early hours of October, 23 2019, Maurice Robinson, who was driving the lorry in which the migrants were found, called his boss, Ronan Hughes, before dialling 999.

Calls from Hughes to Gormley soon followed but went unanswered and connected for short periods on voicemail, with short messages left.

Later in the morning, from 5.47am, contact is made between Kennedy and Gormley. They then spoke at 6.40am.

Gormley was arrested in February 2020 and was charged with conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration.

He denied the charge, arguing the only criminality he was involved in with the group was to bring alcohol into the UK in such a way as to evade duty.

However, the jury took just one hour unanimously rejected that defence and found Gormley guilty after a two-week trial was held at the Central Criminal Court, in London.

Gormley was remanded into custody, to be sentenced at the same court on Friday, December 1.