Human trafficker jailed over the deaths handed extra jail time
A human trafficker who was jailed for the deaths of 39 people who were found in the back of a lorry has been ordered to serve a further 11-and-a-half months in jail after failing to pay more than £65,000 in compensation.
Romanian mechanic Gheorghe Nica, 46, was jailed for 27 years in 2021 for the manslaughter of the Vietnamese nationals who were found in a lorry trailer in Essex on October 22, 2019.
The victims, the youngest of whom was just 15, died in sweltering conditions as they were transported in an airtight container from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet.
Nica, of Basildon in Essex, was last year ordered to pay £65,157.65 to victims’ families through a confiscation order made at the Old Bailey.
But the defendant has failed to pay back the money and has been ordered to serve a further 11-and-a-half months in prison as a result, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Gheorghe Nica was found guilty of manslaughter and people-smuggling conspiracy and jailed for 27 years but after failing to pay more than £65,000 in compensation he was handed a further 11-and-a-half months

Thirty-nine Vietnamese nationals were killed in an airtight sealed container being transported by ferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium to Purfleet in October 2019

Eleven men were convicted for their involvement in the people-smuggling ring which saw 39 people die in an airtight container on the back of a lorry (pictured)
The CPS said that the additional jail time was imposed at a hearing at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
Heather Chalk, of the CPS, said: ‘Gheorghe Nica failed to pay the £65,157.65 that he owed, so the CPS have returned him to court and now he has had an additional default sentence of 11-and-a-half months’ imprisonment on top of his original sentence.
‘He profited from smuggling people into the country, which ended in 39 people dying in the most horrific circumstances.
‘Even after serving this sentence, he will still owe that amount plus interest.
‘The CPS worked with the police financial investigators to identify Nica’s criminal benefit from this tragedy and what available assets he currently holds to pay the order.
‘The judge also made a compensation order for that amount to be paid to the families of the victims.
‘We will continue to ensure that money will be pursued so that nobody profits from these awful crimes.’
Nica was previously convicted of the manslaughter of 39 people and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration as part of an illegal people-smuggling operation.

The plotters, top row, left to right: Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, Christopher Kennedy, Eamonn Harrison and Gheorghe Nica, and bottom row, left to right: Maurice Robinson, Ronan Hughes and Valentin Calota

Marius Mihai Draghici, 51, fled the UK after the Vietnamese nationals died but was detained in Romania and extradited back to the UK in August 2022
The CPS said that after the investigation it was found that significant sums of money were made from this exploitation.
It said the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division has worked with investigators to pursue these ill-gotten gains to ensure that no-one profits from the tragedy.
In addition to Nica, four other men were jailed for between 13 and 20 years for the manslaughter of the men, women and children.
They are: Romanian Marius Mihai Draghici, 51, who was described as Nica’s ‘second-in-command’; haulier boss Ronan Hughes, 44, of Armagh; lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 29, of Craigavon, who found the bodies; and Eamonn Harrison, 27, of Co Down, who had collected the victims on the continent.
Haulage boss and criminal ringleader Ronan Hughes, 44, of Armagh, in Northern Ireland played a ‘pivotal’ role with his fleet of lorries and received £3,000 per migrant successfully transported from the continent to Essex.
He admitted plotting to people smuggle and 39 counts of manslaughter and was jailed for 20 years, and, following a confiscation hearing, was ordered to pay victims’ families £182,078.90.
Romanian mechanic Nica, was Hughes’s friend and partner in crime.
He supplied a fleet of drivers to pick up the migrants from a drop-off point near Orsett in Essex for transit to a holding flat in Dulwich, south London to await payment.
During his trial, Nica had tried to minimise his involvement, blaming his associate, Marius Draghici.
Draghici, 51, fled the UK after the Vietnamese nationals died but in August 2022 he was detained in Romania and extradited back to the UK.