Items belonging to Vietnamese nationals found dead in Essex lorry returned to victims' families

File photo dated 23/10/19 of police and forensic officers at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, after 39 bodies of Vietnamese migrants were found inside the lorry on the industrial estate. Four men are due to go on trial this week for their alleged part in a people-smuggling plot linked to the deaths of 39 migrants.
Police and investigators at the lorry in Grays, Essex, in 2019. Credit: PA

Personal items from the Vietnamese men, women and children who perished in the back of a lorry have been returned to the victims' families.

A senior officer with Essex Police described the act of repatriating the items as representing the “final act of our most complex and far-reaching investigation”.

The 39 people aged between 15 and 44, were discovered dead in the airtight container in Grays, Essex, on 22 October 2019.

They had been transported in sweltering conditions from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in Essex.

The lorry in 2019 after it was discovered in Essex with the bodies of 39 Vietnamese men, women and children inside. Credit: PA

Police officers involved in the investigation have travelled to Vietnam to return possessions belonging to the victims to their loved ones.

Essex Police returning the personal items which belonged to the 39 Vietnamese men, women and children who died in a lorry container in 2019. Credit: Essex Police

Det Chief Supt Stuart Hooper from Essex Police, who was involved in the special visit, said: "Bringing the victims’ belongings home to their families represents the final act of our most complex and far-reaching investigation ever carried out in Essex and it was humbling to represent our force in Vietnam.

"During our meetings, we were reminded by the Vietnamese delegation of our Chief Constable’s promise; to bring those responsible to justice, to treat each victim and their family with dignity and respect.

"We were told that as a result of our actions in dismantling this intercontinental crime group, Essex Police will always have a special place in Vietnam.

"Those words and that level of respect are not lost on me."

He added the case was an "exceptional investigation in extraordinary circumstances, and no-one involved in it will ever forget it" and the force was working with the haulage industry to prevent a repeat of the tragedy.

People smuggler Gheorghe Nica, a 46-year-old Romanian mechanic of Basildon in Essex, was jailed for 27 years in 2021 for manslaughter.

Four other men were jailed for between 13 and 20 years for the manslaughters of the men, women and children.

Essex Police said a total of 11 people were convicted for their parts in the wider conspiracy, with sentences totalling 117 years in jail.

To date, more than £283,000 has been ordered to be paid by defendants as compensation to the victims’ families.

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