New Year Honours: Detective who investigated Essex lorry deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants 'humbled'
The police officer who led the investigation into the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a lorry in Essex says he's humbled to be honoured by the Queen.
Detective Chief Inspector Danny Stoten has received the Queen's Policing Medal for his efforts on the case.
The bodies of the 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate in Grays in Essex, shortly after the container arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium in the early hours of October 23, 2019.
Among the men, women and children were 10 teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys.
Eight men were convicted after a Europe-wide investigation involving officers from the UK, France, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland.
The investigation was awarded ‘Senior Investigating Officer Team of the Year’ by the National Police Chiefs’ Council Homicide working group.
DCI Stoten has served as the Senior Investigating Officer on a number of other high-profile cases including the murder of Courtney Valentine-Brown that featured in the BBC television series Murder 24/7, the murder of 19-year-old Fabian Kacica in Southend, and the tragic death of Summer Grant on a bouncy castle in Harlow.
A keen boxer, DCI Stoten has also run a programme to help deter young people from joining gangs through the sport, and his charity boxing events have raised more than £160,000 for disabled children.
He said: “To get this recognition at the end of my career is an absolute honour. I’m humbled by it. The quality of work that my team put into murder investigations led to a conviction rate just short of 100% when we got to court, which shows how right we get it.
“I’ve dealt with tragic deaths, the motivation is always to achieve justice for the victim’s families and you want to make the people who committed horrendous crimes face justice as well. It’s an honour to be given the responsibility to investigate those crimes.”
Essex Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington has also received the Queen's Policing Medal for his work during the pandemic, while Police Constable Dawn Wood received the British Empire Medal.
She is best known for completing a solo row of the Atlantic to highlight the problem of plastic pollution in our oceans.
PC Wood has built relationships between the police and the marine community along the Essex coast, and is highly respected for her conservation work and incredible achievements as an endurance athlete.