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Gathered mainly from international media sources December 2020 - March 2021 |
For recent entries click "Invalid Item"  These are news/opinion items which caught my eye. Click on the link below: 31 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" 24 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 22 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" 21 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 19 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 17 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 26 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 25 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 24 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 22 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 21 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 19 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 18 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 16 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 15 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 14 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 9 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 8 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 4 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 30 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 29 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 28 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 27 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 26 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 24 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 23 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 21 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 20 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 19 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 18 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 14 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 12 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 11 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 10 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 4 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 2 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 29 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 27 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 24 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 23 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 22 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 20 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 19 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 18 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 17 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 16 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 15/12/20 "Invalid Entry" 13 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 12 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 11 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" For earlier entries drill down the list 10 Dec 2020 - Covid: Genes hold clues to why some people get severely ill 10 Dec 2020 - Referendum for the state of Texas to secede from the U.S. ? 10 Dec 2020 - Covid-19: More single day dead than in 9/11 terror attack or on D-Day landing 10 Dec 2020 - Covid-19: France moves to night-time curfew from 15 December 10 Dec 2020 - Elon Musk has launched the latest prototype of his Starship vehicle from Texas. 9 Dec 2020 - Covid-19 - $600 direct payment to most Americans? 9 Dec 2020 - Hunter Biden under federal investigation 9 Dec 2020 - Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine data gets positive FDA review 9 Dec 2020 - Is BIG TECH censoring different ideas about COVID-19? 9 Dec 2020 - Clashes in Portland 9 Dec 2020 - UK is investigating two possible allergic reactions to Pfizer coronavirus shot 9 Dec 2020 - Open letter by the Prime Minister of Hungary to the European Union 9 Dec 2020 - VACCINE OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM 9 Dec 2020 - UK EXIT FROM THE EU (Last supper?) 8 Dec 2020 - ROALD DAHL AND A WOKE APOLOGY |
A surge in coronavirus cases in the UK is of "extreme concern", a health boss says, as a record number of cases was reported for the second day running. On Tuesday, 53,135 new Covid cases were recorded as well as 414 more deaths within 28 days of a positive test. Not all data was reported in full over the Christmas period, leading to a lag in some data, but Public Health England said there had been a "real increase". The health secretary said the NHS was facing "unprecedented pressures". Ahead of an announcement on any changes to England's tier restrictions on Wednesday, Matt Hancock added in a tweet: "We must suppress this virus to protect our NHS & save lives until the vaccine can keep us safe." Hospitals in England and Wales are now treating more Covid patients than at the peak of the first wave in April. Dr Susan Hopkins, senior medical adviser at PHE, said: "We are continuing to see unprecedented levels of Covid-19 infection across the UK, which is of extreme concern, particularly as our hospitals are at their most vulnerable. "Whilst the number of cases reported today include some from over the festive period, these figures are largely a reflection of a real increase." Dr Hopkins said it was "essential, now more than ever" that people follow social distancing rules to help drive infections down, and protect the NHS and vulnerable people. It comes a day after more than 40,000 daily virus cases were announced for the first time in the UK, although it is thought infection rates were higher earlier in the year, before mass testing. In Wales' Brecon Beacons beauty spot, police have had to turn away visitors from as far away as London - which is under "stay at home" tier four rules. People in Scotland have been urged to stay at home and not celebrate Hogmanay with other households. And in Northern Ireland a top doctor has warned a third surge of Covid cases is expected in mid-January, in part driven by the spread of a new coronavirus variant. |
| Spain is to set up a registry of people who refuse to be vaccinated against coronavirus and share it with other European Union nations, the health minister has said. Salvador Illa said the list would not be made accessible to the public or to employers. He said the way to defeat the virus was "to vaccinate all of us - the more the better". Spain has been one of the countries in Europe worst affected by the virus. It is currently rolling out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which was approved for EU member states last week. In an interview with La Sexta television on Monday, Mr Illa emphasised that vaccination would not be mandatory. "What will be done is a registry, which will be shared with our European partners... of those people who have been offered it and have simply rejected it," he said. "It is not a document which will be made public and it will be done with the utmost respect for data protection." He added: "People who are offered a therapy that they refuse for any reason, it will be noted in the register... that there is no error in the system, not to have given this person the possibility of being vaccinated." According to a recent poll, the number of Spanish citizens who have said they will not take the vaccine has fallen to 28% from 47% in November. In other comments on Monday, Mr Illa said people would be contacted by regional authorities when it was their turn to be inoculated. "People who decide not to get vaccinated, which we think is a mistake, are within their rights," he told reporters. "We are going to try to solve doubts. Getting vaccinated saves lives, it is the way out of this pandemic." The number of people who have died from Covid-19 in Spain rose above the 50,000 mark on Monday. The country has registered more than 1.8 million infections during the pandemic. Spain is under a nationwide curfew, between 23:00 and 06:00, until early May. In many places, people are only allowed out in that period to go to work, buy medicine, or to care for elderly people or children. |
| George Blake's escape from Wormwood Scrubs prison in London in 1966 was a major embarrassment to the government of Harold Wilson. Blake, convicted of betraying British MI6 agents to the Soviet Union, had completed just five years of a 42-year sentence. His escape was arranged by three former inmates, including two peace campaigners, and financed by the film director Tony Richardson. With the help of friends he was hidden in safe houses before managing to escape to the Soviet Union, where he spent the rest of his life. Blake was born George Behar on 11 November 1922 in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. His father was a Spanish Jew who had fought with the British army during World War I and acquired British citizenship. At the age of 13 Blake was sent to Cairo where he stayed with his father's sister, who was married to a wealthy banker. There he became close to one of his cousins, a committed communist who, Blake remembered, had a great influence on him. He returned to the Netherlands in the summer of 1939 and was staying with his grandmother in Rotterdam when the Germans invaded the following spring. His mother and sister were evacuated to England but Blake remained, and as a British citizen was temporarily interned by the Germans. When it became clear the proposed German invasion of England would not take place, Blake managed to get hold of forged papers and joined the Dutch resistance. "Although I was 18," he later recalled, "I looked much younger and therefore was very suitable to act as a courier." Over the next two years Blake carried messages between Dutch resistance groups but eventually decided to try to reach England and join the armed forces. He travelled down to neutral Spain where, after being imprisoned for three months, he managed to reach England via Gibraltar. He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve where he was asked, because of his background, if he would like to work in intelligence. He was fluent in Dutch and was deployed to decipher coded messages sent to London by the Dutch resistance. When the war ended, he was posted to Germany where he spied on the Soviet forces occupying what was then East Germany. He was so successful it was decided to return him to England where he learned Russian at Cambridge. Blake later said: "In a way it shaped another stage in my development towards communism, towards my desire to work for the Soviet Union." He was transferred to South Korea just before the outbreak of war between the western-backed South and Soviet-backed North. His job was to set up a network of agents to spy on the North but poor communications made his task difficult. When the North captured the city of Seoul, Blake found himself interned along with a number of diplomats and missionaries. He later denied claims that he had been brainwashed into working for the Soviet Union. Blake said it was the continual bombing of small villages by American planes that made him feel ashamed of the actions of the West. He was also influenced by a copy of Karl Marx's book, Das Kapital, which had been sent to the prisoners by the Soviet embassy. Blake commented later: "I felt it better for humanity if the communist system prevailed, that it would put an end to war." In the end Blake simply wrote a note to the Soviet embassy offering his services. It resulted in an interview with a KGB officer. By the time Blake arrived back in England after his release in 1953 he was a fully fledged Soviet agent. In 1955 he was sent to Berlin where he was given the task of recruiting Soviet officers as double agents. It was the ideal role for the man who was now committed to the Soviet Union. Much in the manner of Bill Haydon, in John le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Blake passed British intelligence to his Soviet handlers while pretending the flow was the other way. Over a period of nine years, Blake handed over information that led to the betrayal of some 40 MI6 agents in Eastern Europe, severely damaging British Intelligence. He said later: "I don't know what I handed over because it was so much." His downfall came when a Polish secret service officer, Michael Goleniewski, defected to the West, bringing his mistress and details of a Soviet mole in British intelligence. Blake was recalled to London and arrested. At a subsequent trial he pleaded guilty to five counts of passing information to the Soviet Union. Based on the sentences given to other spies arrested at the time, Blake was expecting a 14-year term. But instead he was sentenced to 14 years on each of three counts; the 42-year term was then the longest ever imposed in a British court other than life sentences. "As a result," Blake later recalled, "I found a lot of people who were willing to help me for the reason they thought it was inhuman." His escape was helped by the lax conditions in the prison and his warders' assumption that he was resigned to his sentence. While in Wormwood Scrubs he met Sean Bourke, an Irish-born petty criminal. On his release Bourke, together with two anti-nuclear campaigners, Michael Randle and Pat Pottle, helped Blake scale the prison wall. In the process Blake fell and fractured his wrist but managed to get into a waiting van. After a period of hiding in various houses, he was smuggled to East Germany in a camper van and then to the Soviet Union. No regrets Feted as a hero, he was made a KGB colonel and given a pension, an apartment in Moscow and the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin. Blake was that most dangerous of traitors: a man who acted because of principle rather than for reward. He never had regrets and remained a committed Marxist-Leninist. Like many intellectuals of his time, including Kim Philby, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, he came to despise the British social system and worked for its downfall. "To betray, you first have to belong. I never belonged," he said. Unlike them, Blake lived to see the end of the communist regime in Russia, an ideal for which he had betrayed his country and his colleagues. "I've enjoyed the happiest years of my life in Russia," he said in an interview to mark his 90th birthday. "When I lived in the West I always had the risk of exposure hanging over me. Here, I feel free." And in a statement in November 2017 he again praised the work of Russian spies. They "have the difficult and critical mission" of saving the world, he said, "in a situation where the danger of nuclear war and the resulting self-destruction of humankind have been put on the agenda by irresponsible politicians. It is a true battle between good and evil." |
| Two cases of another new strain of Covid-19 - which has been linked to South Africa and is "yet more transmissable" - have reached the UK, Matt Hancock has confirmed. But how worried should we be about another strain and what do we know about it? What is the variant and where has it come from? "Both are contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks," the health secretary said. Those with the new coronavirus variant, and contacts of them, are currently in quarantine. "But it has several other potentially important mutations that are completely different from the ones the UK strain has evolved." How infectious is it? Similar to the other UK new strain which was confirmed earlier this month, but has been in the UK since September, this variant is also "more transmissble". Mr Hancock added: "This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK." Latest figures suggest the South African strain was behind a record number of people being hospitalised there. The virus spread extremely rapidly in the Eastern and Western Cape outbreaks in South Africa and is now the dominant strain there. Is travel affected? There are immediate new restrictions on travel from South Africa and the Government is urging those who have been in contact with anyone who has been in South Africa in the last fortnight to quarantine. Mr Hancock said: "Anyone in the UK who has been in South Africa in the past fortnight and anyone who is a close contact of someone who has been in South Africa in the last fortnight, must quarantine immediately." "They must restrict all contact with any other person whatsoever," he warned. He added: "These measures are temporary while we investigate further this new strain which is shortly to be analysed at Porton Down." Mr Hancock continued: "We are incredibly grateful to the South African government for the rigour of their science and the openness and the transparency with which they have rightly acted as we did when we discovered a new variant here." What have experts said about the new strain linked to South Africa? Infectious diseases expert Dr Susan Hopkins told a Downing Street press conference: "The new variant in the UK which we’ve identified is very different to the variant in South Africa, it’s got different mutations. "Both of them look like they are more transmissible. We have more evidence on the transmission for the UK variant because we’ve been studying that with great detail with academic partners." She added: "We’re still learning about the South African variant and you’ve heard already the measures that we’re introducing to ensure that we quarantine people who are coming in from South Africa. "Therefore, we are pretty confident actually that this system we have in place will help control the spread." |
Two House Democrats were the only lawmakers to break with their party and vote against the $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package, which came after months of bickering between members of Congress. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. and Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, instead stood with 50 Republicans and 1 independent against the long-awaited relief bill, which passed the Senate later the same night. They both voted against the first package that included defense and immigration spending as well. The relief package will send a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, and a $300 per week bonus federal jobless benefit to the unemployed, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters. But Tlaib called the bill "woefully inadequate in addressing the needs of people," as the bipartisan agreement slashed benefits to half of what was doled out in the initial CARES package passed in March at the beginning of the pandemic. "The amount of help and support for our communities in this bill does not go nearly far enough, especially when our families have been waiting for over eight months for more help," she said. Gabbard said of the checks that "$600 is a slap in the face to every American struggling due to the pandemic." "You deserve better," she wrote in a post on Twitter. The sweeping bill also contains $25 billion in rental assistance, $15 billion for theaters and other live venues, $82 billion for local schools, colleges and universities, and $10 billion for child care. Democrats promised more aid to come once Biden takes office, but Republicans were signaling a wait-and-see approach. This week's bill was tied to a $1.4 trillion spending package and other measures to address taxes, energy, education and health care, much to the dismay of Republicans who voted against the package. WHY THE HOUSE SPLIT THE CORONAVIRUS AND OMNIBUS PACKAGE INTO TWO VOTES, AND WHAT IT MAY MEAN FOR NEXT CONGRESS Although $1.4 billion was set aside for President Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall, Democrats also managed to squeeze $12.5 billion more for domestic programs into the legislation. "I voted against the 5,593-page spending bill that gave billions to corporate interests, the military-industrial complex & other countries, leaving crumbs for you who need help most," Gabbard said. "This bill dished out hundreds of billions of dollars going toward special interests, going toward the military-industrial complex, going towards foreign countries meanwhile saying, 'Here's what's left for you. You get 600 bucks,'" Gabbard added, noting that the meager checks aren't nearly enough to cover rent and essential spending for the average. |
Tesco has introduced purchasing limits on some products including eggs, rice, soap and toilet roll. The move is to make sure everyone has access to the products, it said in an email to customers. Customers are allowed to buy up to three of each item. The move comes as almost 3,000 lorries remain stranded in Kent after restrictions on travel and freight between the UK and France were introduced. The supermarket giant also encouraged customers to shop alone to ensure social distancing in stores. 1,500 lorries stuck in Kent as UK and France aim to restart freight Tesco said it has "good stock levels" and customers should "shop as you normally would". Tesco introduced limits on some products in September in a bid to prevent a repeat of the panic-buying that led to shortages in March. France shut its UK border for 48 hours on Sunday amid fears of a new coronavirus variant. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has since announcedthat some travel can resume, although lorry drivers are still advised not to travel to Kent after days of disruption. Dozens of other countries have banned UK arrivals, including India, Iran and Canada. |
| The World Health Organization says there's no evidence the new variant of coronavirus that's taken hold in Britain increases the severity of disease. Scientists, though, are urgently investigating whether it may spread more easily in children. Earlier variants found it harder to infect children than adults and any evidence this new one is different could alter the role they, and crucially schools, play in the pandemic. On Monday, the prime minister said he wanted to open schools in January "if we possibly can". The new variant has, of course, plunged much of southern England into a tier four lockdown, and prompted Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to introduce their own tougher measures. The UK's top scientist has warned it is now "everywhere" and more areas may need to enter the highest level of restrictions. On Monday night, the Stormont Executive voted against imposing a travel ban from Great Britain into Northern Ireland. But it backed plans to issue new guidance against all but essential travel between NI, GB and the Irish Republic. The variant isn't restricted to the UK by the way - cases have been detected in Denmark, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands. The rapid spread of the new variant of coronavirus has been blamed for the introduction of strict tier four mixing rules for millions of people, harsher restrictions on mixing at Christmas in England, Scotland and Wales, and other countries placing the UK on a travel ban. So how has it gone from being non-existent to the most common form of the virus in parts of England in a matter of months? The government's advisers on new infections now say they have "high" confidence that it is more able to transmit than other variants. All the work is at an early stage, contains huge uncertainties and a long list of unanswered questions. Why is this variant causing concern? Three things are coming together that mean it is attracting attention: It is rapidly replacing other versions of the virus It has mutations that affect part of the virus likely to be important Some of those mutations have already been shown in the lab to increase the ability of the virus to infect cells All of these come together to build a case for a virus that can spread more easily. However, there is no absolute certainty. New strains can become more common simply by being in the right place at the right time - such as London, which had only tier two restrictions until recently. But already the justification for tier four restrictions is in part to reduce the spread of the variant. "Laboratory experiments are required, but do you want to wait weeks or months [to see the results and take action to limit the spread]? Probably not in these circumstances," Prof Nick Loman, from the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium, told me. How much faster is it spreading? It was first detected in September. In November around a quarter of cases in London were the new variant. This reached nearly two-thirds of cases in mid-December. Mathematicians have been running the numbers on the spread of different variants in an attempt to calculate how much of an edge this one might have. But teasing apart what is due to people's behaviour and what is due to the virus is hard. The figure mentioned by Prime Minister Boris Johnson was that the variant may be up to 70% more transmissible. He said this may be increasing the R number - which indicates if an epidemic is growing or shrinking - by 0.4. That 70% number appeared in a presentation by Dr Erik Volz, from Imperial College London, on Friday. During the talk he said: "It is really too early to tell… but from what we see so far it is growing very quickly, it is growing faster than [a previous variant] ever grew, but it is important to keep an eye on this." There is no "nailed on" figure for how much more infectious the variant may be. Scientists, whose work is not yet public, have told me figures both much higher and much lower than 70%. But there remain questions about whether it is any more infectious at all. "The amount of evidence in the public domain is woefully inadequate to draw strong or firm opinions on whether the virus has truly increased transmission," said Prof Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham. How far has it spread? It is thought the variant either emerged in a patient in the UK or has been imported from a country with a lower ability to monitor coronavirus mutations. The variant can be found across the UK, except Northern Ireland, but it is heavily concentrated in London, the South East and eastern England. Cases elsewhere in the country do not seem to have taken off. Data from Nextstrain, which has been monitoring the genetic codes of the viral samples around the world, suggest cases in Denmark and Australia have come from the UK. The Netherlands has also reported cases. A similar variant that has emerged in South Africa shares some of the same mutations, but appears to be unrelated to this one. Has this happened before? Yes. The virus that was first detected in Wuhan, China, is not the same one you will find in most corners of the world. The D614G mutation emerged in Europe in February and became the globally dominant form of the virus. Another, called A222V, spread across Europe and was linked to people's summer holidays in Spain. What do we know about the new mutations? An initial analysis of the new variant has been published and identifies 17 potentially important alterations. There have been changes to the spike protein - this is the key the virus uses to unlock the doorway to our body's cells. One mutation called N501Y alters the most important part of the spike, known as the "receptor-binding domain". This is where the spike makes first contact with the surface of our body's cells. Any changes that make it easier for the virus to get inside are likely to give it an edge. "It looks and smells like an important adaptation," said Prof Loman. The other mutation - a H69/V70 deletion, in which a small part of the spike is removed - has emerged several times before, including famously in infected mink. Work by Prof Ravi Gupta at the University of Cambridge has suggested this mutation increases infectivity two-fold in lab experiments. Studies by the same group suggest the deletion makes antibodies from the blood of survivors less effective at attacking the virus. Prof Gupta told me: "It is rapidly increasing, that's what's worried government, we are worried, most scientists are worried." Where has it come from? The variant is unusually highly mutated. The most likely explanation is the variant has emerged in a patient with a weakened immune system that was unable to beat the virus. Instead their body became a breeding ground for the virus to mutate. Does it make the infection more deadly? There is no evidence to suggest that it does, although this will need to be monitored. However, just increasing transmission would be enough to cause problems for hospitals. If the new variant means more people are infected more quickly, that would in turn lead to more people needing hospital treatment. Will the vaccines work against the new variant? Almost certainly yes, or at least for now. All three leading vaccines develop an immune response against the existing spike, which is why the question comes up. Vaccines train the immune system to attack several different parts of the virus, so even though part of the spike has mutated, the vaccines should still work. "But if we let it add more mutations, then you start worrying," said Prof Gupta. "This virus is potentially on a pathway for vaccine escape, it has taken the first couple of steps towards that." Vaccine escape happens when the virus changes so it dodges the full effect of the vaccine and continues to infect people. This may be the most concerning element of what is happening with the virus. This variant is just the latest to show the virus is continuing to adapt as it infects more and more of us. A presentation by Prof David Robertson, from the University of Glasgow on Friday, concluded: "The virus will probably be able to generate vaccine escape mutants." That would put us in a position similar to flu, where the vaccines need to be regularly updated. Fortunately the vaccines we have are very easy to tweak. |
| More than 40 countries have now banned UK arrivals due to concerns about the rapid spread of the new variant. European countries are continuing their discussions on how to co-ordinate a response to it. It's likely to involve efforts to pool scientific expertise and unify travel procedures. It is understood one option under discussion would see all UK travellers required to test negative for Covid-19 before departure. |
| UK-France border blockage The UK and France have been working on a plan to restart the flow of freight between the two countries. France shut the border on Sunday night due to fears about the spread of a new coronavirus variant, halting the movement of goods along a vital trade artery. French Europe Minister Clément Beaune said measures agreed between Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron to end the ban would be announced later and come into effect from Wednesday. Meanwhile, hundreds of lorry drivers have spent a second night sleeping in their vehicles waiting to depart. They're being redirected to Manston Airfield in Kent to take them off the choked-up M20. |
| Two men have been found guilty of the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex. The migrants suffocated in the sealed container en route from Zeebrugge to Purfleet in October 2019. Eamonn Harrison, 24, who dropped off the trailer at the Belgian port, and people-smuggler Gheorghe Nica, 43, were convicted by an Old Bailey jury. Two others were convicted of being part of a wider people-smuggling conspiracy. Lorry driver Christopher Kennedy, 24, from County Armagh, collected the trailers from Purfleet on the earlier two runs, claiming he thought he was transporting cigarettes. But the jury found Kennedy and Valentin Calota, 38, of Birmingham, guilty of conspiring to assist illegal immigration. During the trial, jurors were given a snapshot of the victims - who included a bricklayer, a university graduate and a nailbar technician - and their dreams of a better life. Many of their families borrowed heavily to fund their passage, relying on their potential future earnings once they got into the UK. Det Ch Insp Daniel Stoten, from Essex Police, said: "If you look at the method, the way they transported human beings... we wouldn't transport animals in that way." Another two men - Irish haulage boss Ronan Hughes, 41, of Tyholland, County Monaghan, Ireland, and 26-year-old lorry driver Maurice Robinson - had previously admitted manslaughter. Home Secretary Priti Patel described the deaths as a "truly tragic incident". Prosecutors said in the fatal run, the container became a "tomb" as temperatures in the unit reached an "unbearable" 38.5C (101F). The migrants, aged 15 to 44, were sealed inside for at least 12 hours. They had used a metal pole to try to punch through the roof, but only managed to dent the interior. Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said: "There was no way out, and no-one to hear them; no-one to help them." Harrison, of Newry, County Down, towed the trailer to Zeebrugge, from where it was transported to Purfleet. During the 10-week trial, he claimed he did not know there were people in the trailer and that he watched "a wee bit of Netflix" in bed as they were loaded on. He also said he had no idea there were migrants in two other trailers that he had dropped off at the same port in the previous 12 days. Robinson, from County Armagh, collected the trailer when it arrived on UK shores just after midnight on 23 October. His boss, Hughes, had messaged him: "Give them air quickly don't let them out.". Robinson gave a thumbs-up in reply. But when Robinson stopped on a nearby industrial estate, he found that the migrants were all dead. There was a series of telephone conversations between him and Hughes and Nica, of Basildon, Essex, before Robinson eventually dialled 999. In his evidence, Nica said Robinson told him: "I have a problem here - dead bodies in the trailer." Det Ch Insp Stoten said that many of the police officers who attended "were really young in service" and it was possibly the first time some had ever seen a dead person. He said he believed the "absolutely horrendous scene" would stay with those officers "for the rest of their career and, quite probably, the rest of lives". On all three runs, Nica had arranged cars and a van to transport the migrants at the UK end. Jurors were shown CCTV footage of him carrying a holdall of cash to Hughes's room at the Ibis hotel, Thurrock, early on 19 October. Nica admitted to conspiring to assist illegal immigration in the first two runs, but he insisted that he believed the third run was all to do with smuggling cigarettes. The mechanic told jurors he had been roped into people-smuggling, and said: "I never wanted to be involved in this kind of job." The day after the bodies were found, Nica travelled to Romania, claiming he was "scared" of a "big, big investigation", but prosecutors said the defendant's version of events was "ridiculous". Det Ch Insp Stoten said the gang stood to make between £10,000 and £12,000 per person transported, "the lion's share of which would have gone to Ronan Hughes and Gheorghe Nica". The jury had heard that on 14 October, between the two successful runs, Kennedy was found at the French end of the Channel Tunnel with 20 Vietnamese migrants in his trailer. At least two of those people ended up dying in the fatal run. Police believe the smugglers had "doubled-up" the load on 23 October because of the problem on 14 October, and that was what led to the deaths. This gang had been smuggling people for months and months, the Old Bailey heard. On the first of several successful runs on the same route, a couple, Marie Andrews and Stewart Cox, saw people getting out of a van on a country lane in Orsett, Essex, and dialled 999. Police attended but did not seize CCTV footage from the nearby golf course, in which a lorry and other vehicles were seen on the lane. If, perhaps, Essex Police had managed to get to that footage, follow it up and identify some of the vehicles before the fatal run 12 days later, then this gang might possibly have been disrupted before these 39 people died. Asked about that, the force said it could only allocate the resources available at the time. But it says that now, if there are ever reports of people in the back of a lorry and the driver is present, the driver will be arrested. Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 28, of Hobart Road, Tilbury, Essex, and Gazmir Nuzi, 43, of Barclay Road, Tottenham, north London, had earlier admitted assisting unlawful immigration linked to the case. Mr Justice Sweeney adjourned sentencing of all the defendants to 7, 8 and 11 January. Ms Patel said her "thoughts remain with those affected by this tragedy". "Today's convictions only strengthen my resolve to do all I can to go after the people-smugglers who prey on the vulnerable and trade in human misery," she added. |
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