A Vietnamese migrant told how his parents paid £13,000 for a ‘VIP’ smuggling trip to Britain – just days before 39 people died in the back of the same lorry trailer.
The group of 28 men, eight women and three children – two of whom were just 15 – suffocated while being transported in a sealed lorry trailer from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet, Essex.
Giving evidence at the Old Bailey today, anonymous Witness X described an earlier successful smuggling trip following same route involving 15 migrants on October 11.
Prosecutors have alleged his was one of two successful cross-Channel runs before the 39 Vietnamese nationals were found dead on October 23 last year.
Yesterday, jurors were shown CCTV footage of another alleged successful journey which arrived in the UK on October 18, 2019.
The clip showed a trailer – allegedly containing migrants – being dropped off at the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium on October 17.
Yesterday, jurors were shown CCTV footage of Christopher Kennedy in his cab arriving at the port of Purfleet in Essex on October 18, 2019. It is allegedly part of successful journey which arrived in the UK
Footage issued by police showed Eammon Harrison dropping off the trailer at the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium the day before – on October 17, 2019
The ship transporting the trailer docked at Purfleet at 6am the next morning before being picked up by another lorry.
The man said there were two types of service, one where the lorry driver was ignorant of the human cargo and the ‘VIP’ service in which the driver was aware.
Asked which service he had opted for, Witness X said: ‘VIP – where the lorry driver knows you are there.’
He told how the lorry driver told the migrants: ‘Don’t make a sound’ and ordered them to use nylon bags to relieve themselves.
Witness X said he set out in 2019 for a better life in the UK despite knowing of visa difficulties.
Yesterday, jurors were shown CCTV footage of an earlier alleged successful people-smuggling trip. Pictured: Footage showing Christopher Kennedy’s cab arriving at the port of Purfleet, Essex on October 18, 2019
The 39 people who were found dead on the lorry in Essex were from five provinces in the central, coastal area of Vietnam and two provinces near Hanoi
Asked how his family felt about it, he said: ‘They feel good for me.’
Last February, he travelled with a friend by plane to Poland where he enrolled on a business course and got a Schengen visa.
From there, he travelled to France as the ‘next step’ to the UK.
He saw pictures on Facebook of a Vietnamese person called Hieu who was already in Britain, jurors heard.
Hieu passed on details of a Vietnamese contact called Phong who could get him an ‘illegal’ journey to the UK, the witness said.
He contacted Phong through the messaging app Viber and was told the cost would be £13,000.
On October 10 last year, the witness was given a postcode and travelled to a flat by a lake an hour from Paris.
He said he was told to bring nothing with him so had no papers or luggage apart from a few clothes and a mobile phone.
The witness told jurors he joined a group of Vietnamese people ‘just waiting for the journey’.
They were counted and told to switch off their mobiles and hand over money for the next leg.
Police and forensic officers pictured at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, after 39 bodies were found inside a lorry on the industrial estate in October last year
Two or three taxis took them to a pick-up point 90 minutes away, the court heard.
The migrants hid in a field by a factory and waited for the lorry to arrive with two Europeans who had joined them.
A sketch of Christopher Kennedy, left, and Valentin Calota, right, at the Old Bailey. Kennedy is not accused of being involved in the transportation of migrants on October 23
Jurors have heard that four others admitted a role in the people-smuggling ring, including lorry driver Maurice Robinson (above) and Ronan Hughes, who discovered the bodies
After about 15 minutes, an English-speaking truck driver described as ‘tall’ and ‘a little bit fat’ arrived and opened the rear of his trailer.
Showing them inside, the driver said ‘quickly, quickly’ and told them to ‘keep quiet’, the witness said.
Before arriving at the dock, they stopped for water and were given further instructions by the driver including on how to go to the toilet.
The witness said they were told: ‘If anybody want to ease yourself, do it in the bag and everybody have to stand up and stand together and don’t make a sound.’
The witness said he did not understand why they were being told to stand together in the middle of the trailer.
The sea voyage to Britain in the container took about eight hours and left them tired, jurors heard.
When the doors were finally opened in the UK, some people with European accents helped them out and told them to ‘move fast’ into black cars, he said.
Before setting off again, Witness X’s car driver asked him: ‘Do you like this country?’
He was driven to Phong’s flat in London, where he had to stay until his parents in Vietnam had transferred the £13,000 payment.
Asked what his plan had been, Witness X said: ‘I’m going to go to the Home Office to apply for my papers.’
Jurors were told that an examination of his mobile phone placed it in Paris on October 10 and in south-east London the next day.
Police officers and a forensic tent at the industrial estate in Essex last year. Alleged key organiser Gheorghe Nica has admitted the conspiracy but denies 39 counts of manslaughter
On October 23 last year, police found a white trailer parked by the one in which the 39 migrants were found.
This was the same trailer dropped off at Zeebrugge by lorry driver Eamonn Harrison and picked up by Christopher Kennedy at Purfleet in October 11 last year, the court heard.
Witness X’s thumbprint was recovered from inside the trailer.
Lorry driver Maurice Robinson’s prints were also identified on an Evian bottle containing urine, a brownie wrapper and two carrier bags inside the trailer.
Harrison, 23, of County Down, and alleged organiser Gheorghe Nica, 43, of Basildon, Essex, have denied 39 counts of manslaughter.
Harrison, Kennedy, 24, of Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, and Valentin Calota, 37, of Birmingham, deny a wider people smuggling conspiracy which Nica has admitted.
Jurors heard that four other men have admitted to playing a part in the people smuggling. These include Robinson, who found the bodies, and haulier boss Ronan Hughes, who have both pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Yesterday, jurors were shown CCTV footage of an earlier alleged successful people-smuggling trip.
On the evening October 17 last year, driver Harrison was captured on film as he dropped off a trailer, allegedly containing migrants, at the port of Zeebrugge.
The ship transporting the trailer docked at Purfleet at 6am the next morning and it was picked up by Kennedy in another lorry.
Jurors were also shown CCTV footage of Kennedy’s truck in the loading area at Purfleet.
He is then seen driving past Orsett Golf Course, near where haulier boss Ronan Hughes, alleged organiser Nica, Calota and outstanding suspect Marius Draghici were waiting with a fleet of vehicles, it is claimed.
Earlier, Mr Justice Sweeney explained that Witness X had been granted anonymity so he ‘feels comfortable and is able to give his best evidence’.
The judge said: ‘You must not hold it against the defendants in any way, not least because it is accepted that the witness’s anxiety is not related to the four men on trial before you.’