People smuggler ordered to pay compensation to families of 39 victims

The victims, aged 15 to 44, suffocated as they were transported by ferry from Zeebrugge to Purfleet in Essex in October 2019.

Candles laid out as part of the ceremony for the mass prayer and vigil for the 39 victims found dead inside the back of a truck in Grays, Essex, at the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, London’s Vietnamese church, in east London (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Archive)

A people smuggler has been ordered to pay £6,000 to the families of 39 Vietnamese people who were found dead in a trailer in Essex.

The victims, aged 15 to 44, suffocated as they were transported by ferry from Zeebrugge to Purfleet in Essex in October 2019.

Lorry driver Christopher Kennedy, 25, was jailed at the Old Bailey for seven years for being part of the wider people smuggling operation.

On Wednesday, the court heard he had benefited from his crime to the value of £67,050.65p but had just £6,094.18p in his Bank of Ireland account.

Judge Mark Lucraft QC ordered the confiscation of the available money.

He also said it should be paid as compensation to the families of the 39 victims.

Kennedy, from Co Armagh in Northern Ireland, sat in the dock and made no reaction during the brief hearing.