Lorry driver accused of driving 39 Vietnamese migrants to their death claims he was 'naive and gullible' but denies being a people smuggler

A lorry driver accused of transporting 39 migrants to their deaths has told jurors he was 'naive and gullible' but not a people smuggler. 

Eamonn Harrison, 23, made the claims as he appeared in court over the death of Vietnamese nationals who died in his trailer en route to Purfleet in Essex on October 22 last year. 

He is accused together with people-smuggler Gheorge Nica, 43, of causing the deaths of the victims who were found suffocated in a trailer near Grays, Essex.

Christopher Kennedy, 24, and Valentin Calota, 37, are also accused of having been part of the global smuggling ring driving non-EU citizens into the UK before the tragedy last 23 October.  

Eamonn Harrison, 23, today appeared in court over the death of Vietnamese nationals who died in his trailer en route to Purfleet in Essex on October 22 last year. (Pictured: CCTV still of Harrison at a Belgian truck stop on 22 October 2019)

Giving evidence in the Old Bailey trial today Harrison denied people smuggling but told jurors he lied on his first defence statement, in which he denied any knowledge of criminal activity involved in his trip to Zeebrugge port the day before.

He has since claimed he would go for 'walks' when he knew the lorry was being loaded with what he thought was stolen goods but insists that he was unaware the cargo in his vehicle was human.

He told jurors he only agreed to load stolen lorry parts for his boss Ronan Hughes, 40, because he owed him after drunkenly writing off one of his trucks.

He has claimed that a Romanian he knew as Alex, aka Petrisor Zgarcea, was Hughes' 'man on the continent' and he went for a walk when people were loaded on his trailer without his knowledge on two occasions.

In October last year, men, women and children, aged 15 to 44, were found dead in the trailer

The court also heard how he allegedly successfully dropped off two loads of people at Zeebrugge in Belgium before the Vietnamese who remained in his trailer died in his trailer en route to Essex.

On October 18, a delivery of macaroons and Bakewell tarts, which were transported in the same trailer as people, were rejected due to human contamination.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told Harrison: 'You have dreamt up stolen lorry parts because on this night a load of illegal immigrants were smuggled in your trailer.'

Harrison replied that it was 'without my knowledge'.

The prosecutor said: 'That load when it got to the UK was rejected because of human contamination.'

He asked what Harrison had talked about in a seven minute and 36 second call with Hughes on October 18.

Giving evidence, Harrison denied knowing there were people inside his trailer on that day or on two earlier, successful people-smuggling trips. Pictured: The lorry in October last year

Pictures of the truck were previously shown at the Old Bailey, London, during the trial of four men

Harrison said: 'I cannot remember exactly. I know he did tell me the load had been rejected and the trailer was coming back to me.'

Mr Emlyn Jones went on: 'You can imagine what was on his mind at that time.

'What you have got to talk about is the fact the load he has spent all morning sorting out... was all trodden down and all the biscuits were broken and crushed.

'He does not know the load has been rejected because the load hasn't got to Sittingbourne.

'I suggest here are two people engaged in people smuggling talking about their people smuggling.'

The defendant denied it, telling jurors: 'I was naive and gullible.

'I was to work off the debt with reduction in wage. It would have taken me a year. I did not know I was involved in people smuggling.'

Turning to the fatal trip on October 22, Mr Emlyn Jones asserted: 'It was a double load of 39 migrants and you have loaded them in two stages.'

The defendant denied it.

Jurors were shown video footage of Harrison walking around the pick-up point near Bierne in northern France that morning.

Pictured: Haulier Ronan Hughes, who admitted manslaughter and conspiring to assist unlawful immigration in August

Mr Emlyn Jones suggested that Harrison had concocted a lie, about being told to go for a walk while migrants were being loaded, from viewing the video.

The prosecutor said: 'You have built a lie.

'Your excuse for not knowing what's happening on the 10th and 17th was you were told to take a walk - a master stroke of subterfuge.

'Hughes tells you to take a walk, you can turn a blind eye to what's going on in your trailer. It's based on this clip. You fake a defence around that evidence.'

The defendant has told jurors he initially lied about what happened out of 'fear' but decided to tell the truth later.

Reading from his first defence statement, Mr Emlyn Jones said: 'The defendant left the cab to stretch his legs, urinate and smoke. He would often do this. The defendant had no concerns leaving the lorry as it was empty.

'He was not carrying and therefore not responsible for any cargo. Whilst the defendant was out of the cab he received a further call from Hughes.

'Hughes told the defendant not to wander off too far and that he should know what the plans were for the trailer in the next 20 minutes or so.

'The defendant then received another call from Hughes informing him there was no load to pick-up after all." Then you say you simply drove away.'

Harrison said: 'As I told you before I was issued with the GRM. Yes I've seen the CCTV and I lied.'

'You faked a defence on the evidence,' the prosecutor said.

'I did, yes, I was in a state of fear,' Harrison said.

Jurors have heard that Harrison watched Netflix as the migrants were loaded into the trailer, after he claimed he was told to 'close the curtains' and 'lie down' by a Romanian man named 'Alex.'

He told the court that he thought the man was responsible for moving the foreign nationals into the truck while he remained oblivious and watched 'a wee bit of Netflix.'

Harrison denied that his focus after the tragedy was on 'trying to save his skin' as he told jurors: 'I wish I had decided to look in the trailer.'

He claimed he 'regrets' not thinking twice when he was told to draw the curtains.

'I didn't think in my head that there was another agenda,' Harrison said.

Asked why he failed to question why there was no vehicle nearby from which 'Alex' could have transferred stolen goods, the accused smuggler said: 'I don't think like that. I wish I had. I wish I had decided to look in the trailer.'

'When was it that he had given you the signal to draw the curtains?' Mr Emlyn Jones asked.

'Beforehand,' came the reply.

'You didn't think, "Well that's not the normal thing?"' the prosecutor went on.

'I don't think like that and I regret that I didn't,' Harrison replied.

He added: 'I wish I'd have told the truth sooner but I was scared. I still am.'

Alisdair Williamson QC, defending, said: 'It's been said that your focus, yours and Mr Hughes' focus after the tragedy happened was trying to save your skins.'

'No,' Harrison said. 

Harrison, of Co Down, Northern Ireland, has denied the manslaughter of 39 migrants and being involved in a wider people-smuggling operation.

Jurors have heard that Hughes, 41, of Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, has admitted his involvement in the tragedy.

The trial continues on Monday when Kennedy is due to give evidence.