Politics

Essex lorry deaths: UK sends extra officers to Belgian port after tragedy


The Home Secretary has confirmed extra UK immigration enforcement officers are being deployed at a Belgian port after the Essex lorry tragedy.

Priti Patel told MPs she has spoken with her Belgian counterpart and confirmed the British presence in Zeebrugge will be bolstered.

Ms Patel vowed to adopt a “ruthless” response in dealing with organised criminals behind illegal migration while Border Force is “increasing their presence” in Purfleet, Essex.

She also said the Home Office is “accelerating” its joint intelligence-led operation with the police and others to try to “disrupt and deter” organised crime gangs using refrigerated and hard-sided lorries to “smuggle clandestine migrants”.

Ms Patel added the nationalities of the 39 people found dead in a refrigerated container in Essex are “not confirmed at this stage” and advised the investigation will be “long and meticulous”.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the British presence in Zeebrugge will be bolstered

The bodies of eight women and 31 men were discovered by police in a refrigerated trailer on the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays in the early hours of Wednesday last week.

Essex Police initially believed the 39 were all Chinese nationals, but Vietnamese men and women are feared to be among the dead and other nationalities may be involved.

Lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 25, has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, and will appear at the Old Bailey next month.

He was not asked to indicate a plea as he made his first appearance at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Monday via video link.

Making a statement to the Commons, Ms Patel said work is under way to co-ordinate an international response to the “appalling” incident.

She said: “It will… involve working with partners overseas, with foreign law enforcement agencies, and unravelling the threat of criminality that could stretch halfway across the world.

“We’re already working with a range of operational partners to piece together information.

“Essex Police need to be given the time and the space to do just that, while respecting the dignity of those who have died and the privacy of their families.

“The process of identifying the victims is continuing and I’d like to stress that their nationalities are not confirmed at this stage.”

Border Force is “increasing their presence” in Purfleet, Essex

She later confirmed she has received agreement from the Belgian authorities to “deploy extra UK immigration enforcement officers to Zeebrugge”.

Ms Patel said the “tragic events” in Essex last week show “there is much, much more to do” before condemning “organised criminals” driving illegal migration, adding: “We must be ruthless in our response.”

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott asked whether security now needs to be increased at smaller ports and also whether the UK will continue to work with Europol after Brexit.

She added: “Can the Home Secretary further explain how this co-operation can continue in the future under either a no-deal Brexit or the Prime Minister’s deal?

“Because as it stands we will lose the current level of co-operation, we will not have real-time access to EU agency databases, we will lose access to a host of criminal databases and we will lose access to the European arrest warrant.”

Responding, Ms Patel said the Border Force has already increased its presence at Purfleet in Essex.

Artist impression of Maurice Robinson appearing via videolink at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court

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Essex lorry deaths

On Europol, she said: “The way in which we can absolutely ensure that we have the strongest possible co-operation is via having a deal, which is exactly the Government’s position.”

Tory former minister Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock) said: “It matters nothing how much security we put in there, when these people are being trafficked through numerous countries before arriving here and going through continental ports.

“Isn’t it something that all jurisdictions need to step up to the plate and deliver on?”

Ms Patel replied the “challenges are vast”, adding “we have a major, major international issue here”.

Tory former cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said: “We do need to handle this above all with a new international convention since current international arrangements are outdated ineffective and patently not fit for today’s needs.”

Ms Patel responded: “There is much more work that we can now do working collaboratively not just with international partners now but with our friends and allies to absolutely deal with the root causes, the upstream issues.

“And actually look at how we can deal with the criminality as well, but look at what we can do to put into statute globally, internationally to actually stop this from happening again.”

Labour chair of the Home Affairs Committee Yvette Cooper said refrigerated lorries were “particularly dangerous” as she asked about checks of such lorries at ports.

Ms Patel said: “I have already said in my statement that we will be escalating our work.

“There is a plan in terms of working with my Belgian counterpart to address the specifics of security issues in Zeebrugge itself and how we can extend more checks if required.”





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