Essex lorry – Haulage boss and wife, 38, arrested over migrant deaths released on bail after cops seize luxury cars
A HAULAGE boss and his wife who were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after 39 migrants were found dead in the back of a lorry in Essex have been released on bail.
Thomas Maher and wife Joanna, both 38, were arrested in Cheshire on Friday after the grim discovery.
But Essex Police this morning confirmed the couple, along with a 45-year-old man from Northern Ireland, had been released on bail.
A spokesperson said: “All three had been questioned on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.
“The man and woman from Warrington have both been released on bail until 11 November while the man from Northern Ireland has been bailed until 13 November.”
On Friday, investigating police had examined luxury cars, worth more than £150,000, outside the couple’s home.
The lorry’s driver Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic humans, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.
He was arrested shortly after the bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in the trailer attached to his Scania cab in the early hours of Wednesday.
The 25-year-old will appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Robinson, who has been a HGV driver for more than five years, doesn’t own the lorry.
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR:
- The bodies of 39 migrants were found in a lorry after it was picked up from Purfleet, Essex, on October 23
- Driver Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic humans, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering
- He reportedly phoned the emergency services 20 minutes after he picked up the lorry
- He will appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on October 28
- Cheshire couple Thomas and Joanna Maher – who allegedly once owned the lorry – were questioned on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people but were released on bail
- A 45-year-old man from Northern Ireland was also released on bail until November 13
Irish police had also arrested a 23-year-old man but authorities later told Sun Online that he is being held on offences “unconnected” with the 39 deaths.
The statement read: “We are in liaison with the Garda police in relation to an arrest they have made today at Dublin Port.
“At this point he is only being processed by the Garda in relation to unconnected offences to the Essex Police investigation.”
In Belgium, police are hunting the driver who delivered the trailer to Zeebrugge, the port it left before arriving in the UK.
Joanna Maher was named as the owner of the Scania truck, which was registered in the Bulgarian port of Varna in 2018.
But the couple had previously said they sold the cab a year ago to a company in Ireland after owning it for around 13 months.
Speaking from outside his house in Warrington, Thomas Maher said previously: “It’s absolutely disgusting what has happened.
“We owned the cab and sold it on October 3 last year to a company in Southern Ireland.
“I’ve made contact with the police and made them aware that I was the previous owner.
“Seeing the cab on TV wasn’t nice and obviously we are not a part of that.
“We still have trucks, and immigrants have always been a problem in Dover and Calais.”
MOST READ IN NEWS
Authorities were unable to confirm the nationalities of the migrants who died in this week’s horrific tragedy.
But at least six Vietnamese families have reportedly come forward as they fear loved ones are among the dead as the country’s Prime Minister ordered an investigation into human trafficking.
The family of one of the victims, feared to be the youngest, revealed she had paid £8,000 to reach the UK.