Remember the Chinese cocklers who drowned?

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

guilty

 

A Chinese gangmaster was today convicted of the manslaughter of a group of cocklers who drowned after becoming trapped by rising tides at Morecambe Bay.

Lin Liang Ren, from Liverpool, was found guilty of the unlawful killing of the 21 cockle pickers who died on Warton Sands in the Lancashire bay in February 2004.

 

The victims were all illegal immigrants who had been lured to the UK from poorer provinces in China to work in the lucrative cockle trade in the north of England.

 

Some of them had only been in the UK for a few months. Although police believe 23 people died on the beach, only 21 bodies have ever been found.

The workers, who were aged between 18 and 45, were all using false cockling permits forged by Lin and his girlfriend when they became trapped by rising waters.

 

Only one member of the team survived. Some made harrowing mobile phone calls to their relatives back home in China as the water ran higher in the minutes before their deaths. One of the victims, Guo Bin Long, told his wife: "Tell the family to pray for me. It's too close. I am dying."

 

After the 23 cocklers drowned, Lin tried to intimidate other workers to lie about the circumstances of their employment.

 

He also lied to police, denying he was in charge of the cockle-picking team and telling detectives the bosses had died during the tragedy.

 

In fact, Lin, 29, was behind a major operation that brought Chinese immigrants illegally to the UK for his own financial gain.

 

After the verdict, Det Supt Mick Gradwell, who led the investigation, said he was "very pleased" with the result which he hoped would be "some comfort" to the victims' families.

 

"It can never replace their loved ones but I hope they see that we care, the criminal justice system has worked and I hope that that is a crumb of comfort for them," he said.

 

"We are very satisfied with the results. This has been a very long and complicated investigation."

 

He praised the bravery of the Chinese witnesses who had come forward to give evidence despite threats both to themselves and to their families back in China.

 

"It took a great deal of courage for them to tell the truth," he said.

 

Det Supt Gradwell said officers were in the process of contacting the victims' families in China to relay the news.

 

The jury of ten women and one man took seven days of deliberation to reach today's verdict following the seven-month trial at Preston crown court.

 

His girlfriend, 21-year-old Zhao Xiao Qing, from Liverpool, was found guilty of facilitation - helping people breach immigration law - and perverting the course of justice, along with his cousin Lin Mu Yong, 31, also from Liverpool.

 

Father and son businessmen David Anthony Eden Snr, 63, and David Anthony Eden Jnr, 35, who ran the Liverpool Bay Fishing Company, were cleared of breaching immigration law by employing illegal immigrants in connection with the tragedy.

 

They had been accused of buying the cockles harvested by the workers.

 

Mr Justice Henriques QC refused an application from the Edens for costs, telling them they had brought the prosecution upon themselves by failing to tell the truth.

 

"I'm satisfied that without these lies [they] would not have been prosecuted," he said.

 

After the verdict, the Edens said in a statement that they would be launching a "civil action" against the police and other authorities over the legal case against them.

 

They called the judge's comments "wholly unjustified" and thanked the jury for their decision.

 

Duncan Birrell, lawyer for the prosecution, said today's convictions should be heeded by employers who risk their employee's lives.

 

"Today's convictions send out a powerful warning that the CPS will aggressively pursue anyone who tries to recruit workers illegally into this country and put them to work with no regard for their safety or welfare," he said.

 

The judge said he would sentence the three defendants on Tuesday. He said he would consider deportation.

 

The coastguard said rescuers have been called to the area of the tragedy at least 40 times since the deaths to help people who found themselves stranded.

 

Sue Todd, of the maritime rescue co-ordination centre in Liverpool, said local groups had successfully eradicated some of the "bad guys" in the industry.

 

But the sheer growth of the industry meant there were still many people working on the sands who were not properly aware of the dangers.

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