A “right-hand man” in a people-smuggling ring has been jailed for more than 12 years for the manslaughter of 39 men, women and children found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex.

The Vietnamese nationals died in the airtight sealed container as it was being transported by ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in October 2019.

Marius Mihai Draghici, 50, fled the country and was detained by police in Romania last August and extradited back to the UK.

Last month, he pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

In a televised sentencing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Mr Justice Garnham jailed Draghici for 12 years and seven months.

He told the defendant he was an “essential cog” in a conspiracy which made “astonishing profits out of the exploitation of people desperate to get to the UK”.

He said the conditions inside the trailer where the victims died were “unspeakable” with “people trapped inside the trailer with no ventilation and no way of getting out”.

The senior judge recognised the “pitiful audio recordings” of those trapped inside “reporting they could not breathe and a growing recognition they were going to die there” and their love-ones’ “heart-wrenching” statements.

Four other gang members were jailed in 2021 for between 13 and 27 years for the manslaughter of the 39 migrants.

They are: Ringleader Gheorghe Nica, 46, of Basildon, Essex, haulier boss Ronan Hughes, 43, of Armagh, Maurice Robinson, 28, of Craigavon, who found the bodies, and Eamonn Harrison, 26, of County Down, who had collected the victims on the continent.

The victims – aged between 15 and 44 – had hoped for a better life in Britain when they agreed to pay up to £13,000 a head for a “VIP” smuggling service.

On October 22 2019, they were crammed into the lorry container to be shipped in pitch black and sweltering conditions.

The 28 men, eight women and three children had desperately tried to raise the alarm, with many leaving messages for loved ones on their mobile phones as they ran out of air before reaching British shores.

One unsent text message by a young mother read: “Maybe going to die in the container. Cannot breathe any more.”

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones KC told the court that the victims’ last hours “must have entailed unimaginable suffering and anguish”.

Lorry driver Robinson had discovered the bodies in the early hours of October 23 after being messaged by Hughes to “give them air”, but not let them out.

Robinson had picked up the container at the docks and opened the doors before alerting others including Draghici and Nica waiting at a nearby pick-up point near Collingwood Farm in Orsett.

Mr Emlyn Jones said gang members “immediately abandoned the plan and melted away in the night”, with Draghici following Nica on a flight from Luton to Romania.

Setting out Draghici’s involvement, Mr Emlyn Jones said: “The prosecution case is that Draghici became party to a sophisticated, long-running and highly profitable conspiracy to smuggle illegal migrants to the United Kingdom, in the back of lorries, in a deliberate and intentional breach of border control.”

Draghici was recruited by fellow Romanian Nica and became his effective “right-hand man” and they were “inseparable”, the prosecutor said.

The defendant had accepted being involved in the last three people smuggling runs, including the fatal trip – although police identified a total of seven.

He was present at a meeting at a hotel on October 19 2019 in which Nica delivered a “very substantial payment” to Hughes after collecting the money from “Fong” – the Vietnamese organiser.

He was also in contact with a person who had been described as “Hughes’ man on the continent”.

Mr Emlyn Jones said it was significant that Nica and Draghici both gave Robinson his instructions earlier on the night of the tragic journey.

The prosecutor said: “We accept that the role played in the conspiracy by Nica was more significant than that of Draghici. So Nica is above Draghici in the pecking order.”

But he said of Draghici: “He was not just acting as a driver but playing the role of something of a right-hand man to Mr Nica.”

– The 39 victims were: Dinh Dinh Binh, Nguyen Minh Quang, Nguyen Huy Phong, Le Van Ha, Nguyen Van Hiep, Bui Phan Thang, Nguyen Van Hung, Nguyen Huy Hung, Nguyen Tien Dung, Pham Thi Tra My, Tran Khanh Tho, Nguyen Van Nhan, Vo Ngoc Nam, Vo Van Linh, Nguyen Ba Vu Hung, Vo Nhan Du, Tran Hai Loc, Tran Manh Hung, Nguyen Thi Van, Bui Thi Nhung, Hoang Van Tiep, Tran Thi Ngoc, Phan Thi Thanh, Tran Thi Tho, Duong Minh Tuan, Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, Tran Thi Mai Nhung, Le Trong Thanh, Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Hoang Van Hoi, Tran Ngoc Hieu, Cao Tien Dung, Dinh Dinh Thai Quyen, Dang Huu Tuyen, Nguyen Dinh Luong , Cao Huy Thanh, Nguyen Trong Thai, Nguyen Tho Tuan and Nguyen Dinh Tu.

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 US dollars to travel to Hungary to work as fruit pickers and told their families on October 18 2019 that their plans had changed.

In mitigation, Gillian Jones KC said Draghici was “shocked and horrified with what occurred” and had struggled to come to terms with the enormity of it.

Detective Chief Inspector Louise Metcalfe, who led the Essex Police investigation, said: “For more than three years, we have never lost sight of the far-reaching impact the events of October 2019 has had, both here in Essex and, most acutely, in Vietnam.

“Each of the people inside the lorry container were mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. They have family who feel their loss acutely each and every day.

“Today is a significant day. Draghici knew the evidence that we were able to present was overwhelming. He had no option but to admit his involvement.

“Draghici left the UK after October 23 2019 and remained hidden in Europe until August 2022. We have always maintained that the actions we believed he was responsible for could never go unpunished.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Hooper, who oversaw the investigation, said: “In October 2019, we made a promise to the families of our 39 victims that we would deliver justice. We have never lost sight of that promise and the investigation team members have ensured that we have kept that promise.

“We have been committed to tracking down every person we know to have been involved. Unfortunately for Draghici, he could not stay hidden, and he is now facing the consequences of his actions.”

National Crime Agency (NCA) deputy director international Tom Dowdall added: “Marius Draghici and his criminal associates were responsible for the deaths of 39 men, women and children in horrific circumstances. It was an appalling example of just how callous people-smuggling gangs are, who are prepared to risk the lives of those they transport for financial gain.

“NCA officers in the UK and overseas worked closely with Essex Police and our international partners to ensure Draghici was tracked down in Romania and brought back to the UK to face justice.”

Russell Tyner, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “It is devastating that 39 people who put their trust in an unscrupulous network of people smugglers have lost their lives because of the traffickers’ sheer greed and recklessness.

“Draghici sought to evade the law by fleeing the country. Thanks to the continued hard work of prosecutors in our Extradition and International Units, Draghici was successfully extradited to the UK to face the charges against him and has today been brought to justice.”