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Essex lorry deaths: Driver charged with manslaughter of 39 people | |
(32 minutes later) | |
A lorry driver has been charged with the manslaughter of 39 people found dead inside a refrigerated trailer. | |
Maurice Robinson, 25, was arrested after the bodies of 31 men and eight women were found in Grays on Wednesday. | |
He is further charged with people trafficking, immigration and money laundering offences, Essex Police said. | |
Mr Robinson, of Laurel Drive, Craigavon, Northern Ireland, is due before Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Monday. | |
Three others, a man and a woman, both 38, from Warrington, Cheshire, and a 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland remain in police custody. | |
All three were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. | |
A man in his 20s arrested by Irish police in Dublin was said to be "of interest" to the Essex Police investigation. | |
Earlier police said efforts to identify the 39 people were focusing on the Vietnamese community. | |
The victims - who police initially believed to be Chinese nationals - were inside a refrigerated trailer which came to the UK via the port of Zeebrugge. | |
Officers said there had been a "large amount of engagement" from the Vietnamese population since the discovery of the bodies in the early hours of Wednesday. | |
They said all the bodies had now been removed from the trailer and post-mortem examinations were being carried out. | |
The victims had been carrying "very few" identity documents, leaving officers to rely on fingerprints, DNA and distinguishing features such as tattoos or scars, he said. | |
VietHome, an organisation that represents the Vietnamese community in the UK, said it had received photos of nearly 20 people reported missing. |