Police officers work at the scene where 39 bodies were found in a shipping container at Waterglade Industrial Park in Essex, Britain, on October 23. Photo: Xinhua

 

A British driver accused of the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in a refrigeration truck pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring to assist illegal immigration.

Maurice Robinson, 25, appeared via video link at London's Central Criminal Court from the high-security Belmarsh prison, southeast London, and pleaded guilty to two of the 43 charges levelled against him.

The bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in a refrigeration trailer on an industrial estate east of London on October 23.

The trailer had earlier arrived on a cargo ferry from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

Robinson, from Northern Ireland, faces 39 charges of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.

Wearing a blue sweat shirt and talking to confirm his name, age and nationality, Robinson pleaded guilty to conspiring with others "to commit an offence of assisting unlawful immigration." 

He also admitted to acquiring "criminal property namely cash, which he knew or suspected, constituted or represented his own or another's benefit from criminal conduct."

Judge Andrew Eadis ordered that Robinson's alleged co-­conspirators could not be named. The truck driver did not ­enter pleas on the other charges, and is due to appear before court again on December 13.