People smuggler jailed for role in the deaths of 39 migrants found in a lorry trailer
A PEOPLE smuggler has been jailed for his role in the deaths of 39 migrants found in a lorry trailer.
Marius Mihai Draghici, 50, fled the country in 2019 after the Vietnamese victims were discovered in Purfleet, Essex.
Last month, he pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
In a televised sentencing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Mr Justice Garnham jailed Draghici for 12 years and seven months.
He told the defendant he was an “essential cog” in a conspiracy which made “astonishing profits out of the exploitation of people desperate to get to the UK”.
He said the conditions inside the trailer where the victims died were “unspeakable” with “people trapped inside the trailer with no ventilation and no way of getting out”.
The senior judge recognised the “pitiful audio recordings” of those trapped inside “reporting they could not breathe and a growing recognition they were going to die there” and their loved-ones’ “heart-wrenching” statements.
Four other gang members were jailed in 2021 for between 13 and 27 years for the manslaughter of the 39 migrants.
The victims – aged between 15 and 44 – had hoped for a better life in Britain when they agreed to pay up to £13,000 a head for a “VIP” smuggling service.