Northern Ireland

Co Down man who is 'person of interest' in Essex deaths appears before Dublin court on assault charge

The container lorry where 39 people were found dead in Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex. Picture by Aaron Chown, Press Association
The container lorry where 39 people were found dead in Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex. Picture by Aaron Chown, Press Association The container lorry where 39 people were found dead in Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex. Picture by Aaron Chown, Press Association

A 22-year-old man from Co Down who is a "person of interest" over the Essex lorry deaths has appeared in court in Dublin on separate assault charges.

Eamonn Harrison, from Mayobridge, appeared before Cloverhill District Court yesterday charged with assault and criminal damage in north Dublin in August 2018.

He will remain in custody until November 7 when the case will be heard again.

Mr Harrison has been in custody since he was arrested at Dublin Port on Saturday.

The lorry driver's age was initially reported as 23.

Essex Police have said he is a "person of interest" in their investigation into the deaths of 39 people found in a refrigerated lorry container in Essex on Wednesday of last week.

Officers from the English force are thought to have travelled to Dublin on Monday to speak to Mr Harrison.

The 39 dead were found in a container attached to a lorry in an industrial park in Grays, Essex, in the early hours of October 23.

Essex Police believed the 31 men and eight women were all Chinese nationals. However, at least some of the victims appear to be from Vietnam.

Police in Essex are still hunting for two brothers from Co Armagh who are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking over the 39 deaths.

Convicted cigarette smuggler Ronan Hughes (40), who also goes by the name Rowan, and his brother Christopher, known as Chrissy, have addresses and links on both sides of the border.

Ronan Hughes is believed to have leased the lorry container in which the 39 migrants were found dead.

He is also thought to own the blue Scania lorry tractor used to transport the container from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge to Purfleet in Essex last week.

Maurice Robinson (25) of Laurel Drive, Laurelvale, near Portadown, Co Armagh, appeared in court in England on Monday charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.

He is due to appear at the Old Bailey on November 25.

Three other people with links to the case have been arrested.

Irish couple Joanna and Thomas Maher, now living in Warrington in England, were arrested last week but were later released on bail until November 11.

Mrs Maher was named as the owner of the Scania truck, registered in the Bulgarian port of Varna in 2018, which was used to transport the container from the port of Purfleet to Waterglade Industrial Park in Essex in the early hours of last Wednesday.

But the couple said they sold the cab a year ago to a company in the Republic.

A 46-year-old man from Northern Ireland, who has not been named, was arrested at Stansted Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and suspicion of manslaughter on Friday night.

He was released on bail until November 13.

Meanwhile, 12 migrants were reportedly rescued from a refrigerated truck on a motorway car park outside Antwerp in Belgium on Tuesday evening.

The migrants, 11 Syrians and one Sudanese, were found after the lorry driver alerted police.

The 12, all adults, were found safe and well.

:: Update: Since publication of this article, Essex Police has said no further action will be taken against Christopher Hughes, who denies any connection to the offences. A spokesman said he was "raised as a suspect early in the investigation, based on evidence and information that we had", and was "later subject of a voluntary interview within the Republic of Ireland, and that was intentionally because of legal difficulties in speaking to him elsewhere. No further action will be taken against him." His brother Ronan Hughes (41) was jailed in January 2021 for the manslaughter of the 39 Vitnamese migrants along with Gheorghe Nica (43) of Basildon, Essex, Eamon Harrison (24) of Newry, Co Down and Maurice Robinson (26) of Craigavon, Co Armagh.