A man alleged to have delivered a trailer in which 39 migrants were found dead in Essex last year has been extradited to the United Kingdom.
Eamon Ronald Harrison (23) of Mayobridge, Co Down, is wanted by Essex police to face 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and conspiracy to commit human trafficking under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.
He was handed over to Essex Police in Dublin and flown to London on Wednesday. Mr Harrison last month lost his latest challenge aimed at preventing his extradition.
It is alleged Mr Harrison delivered the trailer, in which the bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were found in an industrial park in Grays, Essex on October 23rd last, to a Belgian port before its onward journey to Britain.
The cargo was recorded as “biscuits” and the migrants died from a lack of oxygen between 8pm and 10pm after they had entered UK territorial waters. The temperature inside the unit rose to 38.5 degrees before it “steadily reduced”, and police discovered “bloody hand prints” inside.
The eight women and 31 men had arrived in England last October on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium. The youngest victims were two boys aged 15.
