A crime boss serving 20 years for killing 39 migrants who suffocated in the back of a lorry has had his home seized.
A judge ordered Ronan Hughes’ home to be confiscated to pay back over £180,000 he made as a human trafficker.
After his challenge to the compensation order was rejected, a judge ordered the proceeds be divided between the victims’ families.
Ronan Hughes, 45, had charged migrants £14,000 each on the run from Zeebrugge, Belgium, to Purfleet in Essex and made £180,000 on just one trip.
Trucker Maurice Robinson, 30, had found the bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals including eight women and three children in the refrigerated trailer in Grays, Essex, on October 23, 2019.
Some had tried to break out using a pole as others wrote final heart-breaking text messages to loved ones as those around them sobbed in the darkness, knowing their final moments were near.
Hughes, of Co Armagh, admitted 39 counts of manslaughter and one offence of assisting unlawful immigration for his part in facilitating the illegal immigration.
In January last year a judge had ordered he pay £182,078.90 in compensation “to the families of those killed in this terrible tragedy”.
Hughes, a ringleader in the people smuggling ring, was warned the penalty for defaulting on the order was two years in prison.
He was told by The Recorder of London Mark Lucraft that the amount must be paid in full within three months.
The container lorry in which 39 people were found dead in Grays, Essex. Credit: Aaron Chown
Central to the confiscation order was the house Hughes built on his parents’ farmland where his wife and children live.
It was estimated that the asset is worth €175,000 (£150,000) based on a 50 per cent share of the house valued at €350,000 (£300,000).
But Hughes appealed on the basis his mother Catherine Hughes would not surrender any part of the title to the land or grant right of way to anyone to access the house.
In April the Court of Appeal ruled that there was no agreement that the land upon which the house was built would belong to him.
Lord Justice Holroyde, Lord Justice Snowden and Mr Justice Jeremy Baker ruled there was insufficient evidence to suggest Hughes had any proprietorial interest in the land.
The original order was quashed and the case was sent back to the Old Bailey for a fresh hearing.
Maurice Robinson admitted manslaughter and trafficking and was earlier jailed for 13 years and four months.
Marius Draghici was jailed for 12 years and seven months for manslaughter and conspiracy to assist illegal immigration.
Alexandru Hanga admitted conspiring to assist in unlawful immigration in relation to a single occasion separate from the fatal journey and was jailed for three years.
Driver Eamonn Harrison was convicted of the 39 counts of manslaughter and jailed 18 years.
Christopher Kennedy, of Corkley Road, Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and Valentin Calota, of Cossington Road, Birmingham, each denied but were convicted of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration.
Kennedy was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and Calota was jailed for four and a half years.
Detective Chief Inspector Louise Metcalfe, who led the second part of the investigation into the deaths, said the money will be divided between the Vietnamese families “who continue to feel the devastating loss of their loved ones”.
“Following the conclusion of criminal proceedings and the group being sentenced to a total of 117 years in prison, our final act has been to pursue Hughes for his ill-gotten gains,” Detective Chief Inspector Metcalfe said.
“We know he – and his associates – treated this operation as a lucrative business and it would not have been acceptable to anyone at Essex Police to conclude our work at this group’s conviction.
“This money – all £283,802.58 of it – will be divided between the Vietnamese families who continue to feel the devastating loss of their loved ones.
“It will do little to help heal their loss, I know this, but I do truly hope it will allow them to begin to move forward.
Darren Fox, Specialist Prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Hughes was the leader of a gang “who profited from smuggling people into the country which ended in 39 people dying in the most horrific circumstances”.
“The CPS worked with the Essex police to identify all the criminal benefits of the gang behind this tragedy and what assets they currently hold,” Mr Fox said.
“As a result, over £280,000 has been ordered to be paid to the families of the Vietnamese victims who continue to suffer the terrible impact of this awful tragedy.
“In the last five years, over £450 million has been recovered from CPS obtained Confiscation Orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot profit from their offending. £88m of that amount has been returned to victims of crime, by way of compensation.”