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Viewpoints Morecambe Tragedy Guilty Verdict | Morecambe Tragedy Guilty Verdict |
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Lin Liang Ren, a Chinese national who came to the UK as a student in 2000, was convicted today of the manslaughter of 21 cockle pickers who drowned after being trapped by rising tides in Morecambe bay in 2004.
Lin Liang Ren was found guilty of criminal negligence and unlawful killing by a 10-woman and two-man jury who returned the verdict at the conclusion of the seven-month trial at Preston Crown Court. Although police believe 23 Chinese people perished on the beach, only 21 bodies were ever recovered. Lin Liang Ren, who is 29, from Liverpool, denied he was the head of the cockle picking group, claiming that the team's boss was amongst those who had died. However, he was also found guilty of the crime of facilitation, in helping people breach immigration law. His girlfriend, Zhao Xiao Qing and his cousin Lin Mu Yong were also convicted of facilitation. On the other hand father and son businessmen David Anthony Eden Senior and David Anthony Eden Junior who ran the Liverpool Bay Fishing Company purchased cockles from the Chinese workers, were cleared of breaching immigration law by employing illegal immigrants in connection with the tragedy. Tim Holroyde QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the Edens "knew full well that the Chinese cockle pickers were illegal immigrants and were helping those workers to remain in this country by buying the cockles which they had picked," On a wider note, the jury also heard that the government must bear some responsibility for this tragedy. Martin Boyce, the deputy director of the North West and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee admitted that the United Kingdom Immigration Service (UKIS) "turned a blind eye" to the illegal Chinese cocklers. Lord Alex Carlile QC who defended David Eden Jnr, said that "As a result of the inertia of Government departments, the Chinese cocklers over the whole period we're talking about, were left and allowed to continue their cockling." Chinese community organisations such as Min Quan, believe that the tragedies of Morecombe Bay and Dover 58 four years previously are a direct result of the government's immigration and asylum policies. Jabez Lam of Min Quan, an affiliate of The Monitoring Group, said: "Instead of responding to calls to grant the right to work to all workers, the government tightened immigration and asylum controls. In denying welfare support and the opportunity to work to asylum seekers, the government has created a group of vulnerable workers. "These workers are being pushed by government policies to despair, taking any casual work offered to them with the inevitable result that they are driven into the hands of unscrupulous employers, gangmasters, and organised criminals in the most exploitative and unsafe working conditions.“ Sentencing will commence next week. |
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