Horror as 39 bodies are found in a refrigerated lorry container in Essex, four days after it entered UK

Police have launched one of the UK's biggest ever murder probes after the bodies of 39 people, including one teenager, were found in the back of a lorry in Essex. An ambulance crew made the horrific discovery after they were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park near the Dartford Crossing in the early hours of this morning. The Scania lorry is originally from Bulgaria and had entered the UK at the Welsh port of Holyhead, Wales, where ferries arrive from Ireland.
The trailer is refrigerated, meaning those on board could have frozen to death while trying to get into Britain through the 'weak point' of Ireland. The lorry's driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Police have not said where those who died are from or where they were thought to have been travelling to.
The deaths will lead to renewed calls for added checks on vehicles entering Britain through so-called 'soft spot' ports, with Border Force resources currently focused on Dover. The fact that the lorry arrived at Holyhead on Saturday suggests those who died may have been in the back of the vehicle for at least four days. A member of the Freight Transport Association (FTA) said the lorry could have got a ferry from France to Ireland, then driven through Ireland before boarding another boat to Britain.

Seamus Leheny said: 'If the lorry came from Bulgaria, getting into Britain via Holyhead is an unorthodox route.
'People have been saying that security and checks have been increased at places like Dover and Calais, so it might be seen as an easier way to get in by going from Cherbourg or Roscoff, over to Rosslare, then up the road to Dublin. It's a long way around and it'll add an extra day to the journey.'
A source told the Irish Daily Mirror they believed the container first arrived in Belfast, before it was taken down to Dublin and then on the ferry to Holyhead.
It has been suggested the lorry may have been refrigerated, meaning temperatures inside could have been as low as -25C.
Describing the conditions inside, Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett said, if the lorry was refrigerated, conditions inside would have been 'absolutely horrendous' and would kill anyone inside 'pretty quickly'.
Mr Burnett added: 'It's going to be dark. If the fridge is running it's going to be incredibly cold.
'The only place to go to the toilet is on board the back of the trailer. You can imagine if they've been in there for days then there will be faeces, there will be urine.'