FIVE PEOPLE WILL virtually appear in court at the Old Bailey in London tomorrow, charged in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals last year.

Police in the UK found the bodies of eight women and 31 men in a refrigerated container on an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, last October.

Last year, the victims were identified as coming from various provinces of Vietnam with the youngest being two boys aged 15.

Northern Ireland national Maurice Robinson, 25, of Craigavon, will appear on charges include 39 counts of manslaughter, transferring criminal property and conspiracy to commit a human trafficking offence.

He has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property at the same court on 25 November.

Another man has been charged with conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the travel of people with a view to exploitation and conspiracy to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law.

A third man has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

And a fourth man and a woman have both been charged with conspiring to do an act to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law by a non-EU person between 1 May 2018 and 24 October 2019.

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