Essex migrants trial: Armagh driver told to lift cigarettes, not people, court told

On October 23 last year another driver, Maurice Robinson, collected a trailer and discovered 39 Vietnamese people had suffocated on the same route.

Video of Christopher Kennedy in his cab arriving at the port of Purfleet in Essex. Picture: Essex Police/PA

A lorry driver accused of being a member of a people-smuggling ring linked to the deaths of 39 migrants has told jurors he only agreed to move cigarettes “for a bit of extra cash”.

Christopher Kennedy, 24, of Keady, Co Armagh, allegedly picked up two trailer-loads of people from Purfleet in Essex, after they were transported from Zeebrugge in Belgium on October 11 and 18 last year.