The defendants, in the Old Bailey court in central London, faced a series of crimes, including manslaughter and conspiracy to commit illegal immigration, according to France 24.
Among the bodies found was not the driver Maurice Robinson, 25 years old, in Northern Ireland. At the trial in April, Robinson pleaded guilty to 39 manslaughter and admitted participating in bringing illegal immigrants into the UK.
Then, at the trial on August 28, Ronan Hughes, a 40-year-old Northern Irish truck driver, also pleaded similar charges. In Dublin’s extradition trial on May 15, Hughes was described as the “oligarch” of a human trafficking campaign.
Maurice Robinson and Ronan Hughes will be sentenced at a later date.
39 Vietnamese were found dead in a container in an industrial park in Essex county, east of London, in October 2019. Containers carrying them were transported by ferry from the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium to the port of Purfleet, England.
An autopsy revealed they died of lack of oxygen and overheating in the enclosed space.
In May, more than 20 other suspects involved in the tragedy were arrested in France, Belgium and Germany.