The driver of a lorry carrying frozen migrants from China apparently fainted when he opened the doors and saw their dead bodies – as police today convinced a judge to give them another 24 hours to question him on suspicion of murdering 39 people.
Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson, 25, remains in custody at an Essex police station as detectives grill him on whether he knew the 31 men and eight women from 5,000 miles away were in the back.
A friend of the Northern Irishman has told MailOnline that Robinson pulled over near Purfleet docks in Essex to grab paperwork from the refrigeration unit only to find dozens of frozen bodies in the rear.
Police are probing whether the immigrants were moved into the UK by a Northern Ireland-based people smuggling ring as three properties across the province were raided overnight, including Robinson’s own home.
An Essex Police spokesman said: ‘Detectives investigating the murder of 39 people in Grays have secured a warrant of further detention from local magistrates at Basildon for a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland.
The man, a lorry driver, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and will now remain in custody for up to an additional 24 hours.’ Police will this afternoon start moving the bodies from Tilbury Docks to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford so post-mortem examinations can be carried out.
The stowaways – 31 men and eight women including a young adult woman – had travelled from China to the UK and slowly froze to death in ‘absolutely horrendous’ conditions after they tried to reach Britain on a cargo ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.
Police are probing whether the victims were being trafficked by criminal gangs operating in the UK who sell them as slaves to work in nail bars, brothels, massage parlours and restaurants.
Murder detectives in Essex are still interviewing lorry driver Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson, 25, whose home in Markethill, Co Armagh, was raided last night before a team entered the nearby home he used to share with his parents, who have flown to England overnight to support their son. A third property in Armagh City was also searched this morning.
Police are focussing on whether Robinson knew he was picking up dozens of immigrants from Purfleet docks on Tuesday night amid claims his HGV’s -25c chiller unit, usually carrying biscuits and mushrooms from Ireland, was switched on.
The migrants were huddled inside the super-chilled sound-proofed container for at least 15 hours by the time the door was opened by Mr Robinson, who called an ambulance from an industrial estate in Thurrock, Essex, at 1.40am yesterday.
A friend of the murder suspect told MailOnline today: ‘Mo is from the nicest family you could meet. I’m telling you now, he wouldn’t have known those people were in the back.
Apparently he’d parked up at the industrial estate in Essex and had gone to fetch the paperwork from a pocket on the inside of the lorry door. When he opened the container up and saw all the dead bodies, he was absolutely horrified – as anyone would be – and called the ambulance service who in turn alerted the police. I heard the container was refrigerated – the temperature was -25C and the bodies were frozen and had been dead for some time.’
Supporters have set up a ‘JusticeforMo’ group, claiming he is being unfairly treated by police. A petition calling for his release has reached 5,000.
As police in Britain launched its biggest murder investigation since 7/7, this is what is known about the horrifying case:
The 39 immigrants found frozen to death were all from China – 31 men and eight women – with police probing if they were being trafficked into the UK to work for criminal gangs;
Police are starting to move their bodies from Tilbury docks to the mortuary in Chelmsford for post-mortem examinations;
Devon and Cornwall police chief Shaun Sawyer, the National Police Chiefs Council lead, says criminals see the UK as an ‘easy target’ because we are a rich and ‘welcoming country’;
The victims from 5,000 miles away probably travelled to Zeebrugge, Belgium, through Holland and perhaps via Varna, Bulgaria, before sailing to Purfleet, Essex, arriving at 12.30am on Wednesday morning.
Lorry driver ‘Mo’ Robinson, 25, dialled 999 30 minutes after pick-up having gone to get his cargo paperwork and finding 39 dead bodies piled up inside, a close friend has claimed;
Police have raided three properties in Northern Ireland, including the one he shares with his partner, who is expecting twins;
We want to be a welcoming country. There are routes but unfortunately the smugglers and human traffickers will exploit the doubt, exploit the push factors in country and bring people here at risk to their life’. Specialist teams are conducting fingertip searches of the road leading into the Waterglade Industrial Park in Thurrock, Essex.
A dozen officers in black uniforms and gloves have been seen on their hands and knees today scouring the area near where the lorry had been parked. Police have extended their search site, putting up a cordon next to the green barriers already in place as they hunt for clues. A strong police presence remains at the industrial estate, with several cars parked there and uniformed officers manning the cordon.
Experts yesterday said the temperature inside the refrigerated trailer unit, which is said to usually carry biscuits, might have been as low as -25C (-13F) when they perished. In reality, they could have been inside their metal coffin for much longer. Although paramedics reached the scene minutes after being called out, all they found was a pile of bodies.
Mo Robinson, who is expecting twins with his partner, called his lorry ‘the Polar Express’, having started working for himself around a year ago after leaving a larger haulier firm in Northern Ireland.
CCTV shows Robinson’s truck driving into the industrial estate in Essex at 1.10am on Wednesday and police arrived around half an hour later. Neither the nationality of the victims, nor the origin of the container is currently known.
The truck was removed from the scene yesterday afternoon, with the 39 victims still believed to be inside, as police begin the process of identifying them. Investigations are ongoing and the latest pictures showed two properties in Northern Ireland being raided by police. A third was searched this afternoon.
