London mass grave truck: driver waited 23 minutes before raising the alarm (Archives) -
Alastair Grant / AP / SIPA
He had made several other phone calls before notifying the police.
The driver of the London mass grave truck, on board which 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead a year ago, waited 23 minutes before calling the police, the prosecutor detailed Tuesday during the trial in London.
Maurice Robinson, 26, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, discovered the bodies in the early hours of October 23, 2019 in an industrial area east of the British capital.
He had recovered the trailer, coming from Zeebrugge (Belgium) at the port of Purfleet (south-east of England), before opening the doors not far from there, in Thurrock.
Inside, he discovered the bodies of the migrants, including two 15-year-old teenagers, who suffocated in this confined space.
Phone calls to other traffic members
Instead of immediately calling the police, the driver made several phone calls to other members of the traffic, the prosecutor explained at the hearing in the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London.
He also drove in a loop around an industrial area before finally calling law enforcement.
Four men have been tried since this week in the Old Bailey Criminal Court for manslaughter or for helping illegal immigration.
The two main suspects, the driver of the truck in which the bodies were found and a Northern Irishman suspected of organizing the movement of the drivers involved in the trafficking, have pleaded guilty and will be the subject of a subsequent hearing to determine their sentence.
The trial, which began earlier this month, is expected to last up to six weeks in total.
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