A truck cab used in the 2019 Essex lorry tragedy where 39 Vietnamese migrants lost their lives is up for auction.
The red Scania R Series—driven by convicted killer and people smuggler Maurice “Mo” Robinson—is being sold off by a Northern Ireland registered company which confirmed the proceeds will go to the victims’ families.
Wilsons Auctions told The Epoch Times on Monday that the “closed” sale will take place this weekend.
However, a spokesperson stressed that the expensive lorry—instantly recognisable from press photos taken at the scene of the mass tragedy—will not be driven on the roads again.
The vehicle will only be sold for broken parts and recycling purposes, with only “vetted” and Environment Agency-registered companies allowed to bid on the sale.
An advert promoting the auction was publicly available on the Wilson Auctions website over the weekend.
It included pictures of the automatic diesel truck, originally registered in the year 2000, including images of the inside interior of the cream-cushioned cab driven by Mr. Robinson.
Clothing and other items can be seen scattered at the back of the cab in the auctioneer’s promotional pictures.
The people smuggler was jailed for over 13 years in January 2021 after pleading guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and acquiring criminal property.
He found the migrants—two aged just 15—dead when he collected the trailer from the docks on Oct. 23, 2019.
All perished after the refrigerated container they were being carried in ran out of air.
£1 Million Smuggling Operation
In a statement to The Epoch Times, a Wilsons Auctions spokesperson said: “Wilsons Auctions and Essex Police work together to generate money for public services, good causes, and compensation for victims of crime.“The auction is live on the website. The vehicle in question will be sold to the highest bidder in a closed auction where only vetted Authorised Treatment Facilities who are registered with the Environment Agency can bid. It will be broken into parts for recycling and will not return to the road.
“All money generated from the auction will be sent to the victims’ families.”
In January, the Old Bailey ordered the confiscation of the cab—owned by Mr. Hughes—along with other ill-gotten gains from his leading role in the long-running people-smuggling operation.
The 43-year-old, of County Armagh, was jailed alongside Mr. Robinson for more than 20 years for the manslaughter of the 39 migrants.
Available assets included cash, bank accounts, the value of lorries, and Mr. Hughes’s share of a property in Ireland.
The judge ordered that the confiscated sum of £182,078.90 be paid in compensation to the bereaved families of the victims.
The judge said the penalty for defaulting on the order was two years in prison.
The 2019 discovery ended what had been a “sophisticated, long-running, and profitable conspiracy” to smuggle mainly Vietnamese migrants into the UK in the back of lorries, the Old Bailey previously heard.
Mr. Hughes had deployed lorry drivers, including Mr. Robinson, who discovered his human cargo had already suffocated in transit after picking up the trailer they were in at Purfleet in Essex.
Shortly before Mr. Robinson opened the back of the container, Mr. Hughes had texted him to “give them air quickly” but “don’t let them out.”
As part of the investigation, police identified at least six smuggling trips with migrants paying up to £13,000 for a “VIP” service.
In October 2019 alone, the smugglers stood to make more than £1 million.
Migrants would board lorries at a remote location on the continent to be transported to Britain, where they would be picked up by a fleet of smaller vehicles for transfer to safe houses until payment was received.
Thwarted Trips
The court heard at the time how some of the trips were thwarted by border officials, and residents in Orsett, Essex, had repeatedly reported migrants being dropped off, but the smuggling operation was not stopped until after the fatal journey.The families of the victims in Vietnam and Britain have previously described their loss and hardship.
Mr. Hughes was sentenced alongside Mr. Robinson and five others in 2021.
The seven men were jailed for a total of 93 years and eight months in prison.
Last month, another member of the gang, Marius Mihai Draghici, was jailed for over 12 years after a judge described him as an “essential cog” in the people smuggling racket.
Mr. Robinson had picked up the container at the docks and opened the doors before alerting others including Mr. Draghici, who was waiting at a nearby pick-up point near Collingwood Farm in Orsett.
At last month’s sentencing hearing in the Old Bailey, prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones, KC, said gang members “immediately abandoned the plan and melted away in the night,” with Mr. Draghici jumping on a flight from Luton to Romania.
The court heard he was recruited by a fellow Romanian and became an effective “right-hand man” in the enterprise.
In victim impact statements read in court, some victims’ families described feeling “sad and hopeless” at their loss while coping with crippling debt from borrowing thousands of pounds to pay for their loved ones’ travel.
Nguyen Huy Hung, 15, one of the youngest victims, had been on his way to live with his parents in the UK and work as a hairdresser.
His father said they were “very shocked” and “trembling” after hearing what happened on social media.
He said: “We did not believe it was the truth until we saw his body with our own eyes … We felt numb and that feeling lasted for many weeks later.”
Married couple Tran Hai Loc and Nguyen Thi Van, 35, were found lying side by side in the container.
The court heard they had paid $7,000 (£5,300) to travel to Hungary to work as fruit pickers and told their families on Oct. 18, 2019, that their plans had changed.
In mitigation, Gillian Jones, KC, said Mr. Draghici was “shocked and horrified with what occurred” and had struggled to come to terms with the enormity of it.
