Fourth arrest made in connection with Essex lorry deaths
A 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and suspicion of manslaughter after 39 bodies were found in a lorry in Essex, police said.
Officers have now detained four people in total, following the arrest of the lorry's driver, Mo Robinson.
A man and a woman, both aged 38 and from Warrington, were earlier arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people in connection with the case.
Today, police in Warrington searched a house in Warrington.
It belongs to Joanna Maher and her husband Thomas.
She owns the company in Bulgaria which registered the truck at the centre of this case.
They’ve told reporters they sold the vehicle a year ago – and were disgusted by what happened.
The arrests come after the first 11 bodies of those who died in the lorry were removed.
A statement from Essex Police said: "We have carried out warrants in Cheshire as part of the investigation into 39 bodies being discovered in a lorry trailer in Grays."As a result, a 38-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman from Warrington have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and on suspicion of 39 counts of manslaughter.
"A 25-year-old man, the driver of the lorry, remains in custody on suspicion of murder. A warrant of further detention was granted yesterday, Thursday 24 October, by local magistrates."
It is known the trailer arrived at Purfleet from Zeebrugge in Belgium at around 12.30am on Wednesday, and the front section to which it was attached, known as the tractor, came from Northern Ireland via Holyhead in North Wales on Sunday.
The lorry and trailer left the port at Purfleet shortly after 1.05am and officers were called around 30 minutes later after ambulance staff made the discovery.
ITV News has learned more about the journey the trailer took in the days before 39 Chinese nationals were found dead.
According to an ITV News source, the trailer - which was fitted with a GPS tracker - was leased from a company in County Monaghan and driven to Lurgan in Northern Ireland on the afternoon of October 15.
ITV News Correspondent Ben Chapman explains the journey the lorry took
It was then driven to Dublin before crossing to Holyhead in Wales.
The trailer’s journey continued to various locations in England, eventually heading to London before crossing from Dover to Calais.
It was next understood to travel through northern France and Belgium before crossing back to England, and then crossing the channel again to France and Belgium.
It eventually made its way to Zeebrugge before making the crossing back to Purfleet on Tuesday night.
ITV News understands that at no time did the trailer travel to any countries on the continent other than France and Belgium and never headed further south than Lille.
The Vietnamese Embassy in London confirmed it has contacted police in regard to a missing woman feared to be one of the 39 people found dead in a lorry in Essex.
A spokesman for the embassy said they had been contacted by a family in Vietnam which claimed their daughter had been missing "since the lorry was found".
The spokesman said: "We have contacted Essex Police and we are waiting for an answer."