This case, one of the most notorious cases of migrant smuggling in the UK, involves the smuggling of 60 Chinese nationals in a refrigerated container from Rotterdam, Netherlands to Dover, UK, using the ferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium. 58 of the migrants died en route, suffocating in the unventilated container. In January 2001, CHinese authorities arrested the alleged organiser or 'snakehead' of this venture, shortly after Dutch authorites arrested one of his associates in Rotterdam.
The case of R v Wacker involves the prosecution of a Dutch truck driver who transported the smuggled migrants in the container. Mr Wacker was later charged and convicted for 58 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to facilitate the entry of illegal immigrants into the United Kingdom. An appeal against his conviction was dismissed. Following a reference from the Attorney-General, Mr Wacker's sentence was raised on appeal.
One smuggled migrant reported paying GBP 4000 as the first installment of a GBP 20,000 fee to the organisers of the migrant smuggling operation.
China
Hungary
Austria
France
Belgium
Netherlands (Kingdom of the)United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandCrown Court
Mr Perry Wacker and Ms Ying Guo were tried together in the Crown Court at Maidstone before Judge Moses on 5 April 2001. Both defendants were charged and convicted of conspiracy to facilitate the entry of illegal immigrants into the United Kingdom. Mr Wacker was also convicted of 58 counts of manslaughter.
Perry Wacker was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for the conspiracy offence and six years for each manslaughter offence, to be served concurrently but consecutively to the conspiracy offence. This amounted to a total of 14 years imprisonment.
Ms Ying Guo was sentenced to six years imprisonment on her charge of conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United Kingdom.
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
Mr Wacker appealed against his manslaughter convictions. He argued that as he was jointly engaged in a criminal activity with the occupants of his truck, he owed them no duty of care and thus was not guilty of negligent manslaughter.
The Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Wacker's appeal, holding that the criminal law would not decline to hold a person as criminally responsible for the death of another simply because the two were engaged in some joint criminal activity at the time. On this basis, the court ruled that the fact that Mr Wacker's keeping the vent shut increased the chances of the victims entering the United Kingdom without detection was not a factor to be taken into account in deciding whether the defendant had acted reasonably or not.
The Attorney-General also referred the sentences for the manslaughter offences to the Court of Appeal as being unduly lenient. The court accepted that the sentence of six years imprisonment did not reflect the seriousness of the manslaughter charges, and increased the sentence for each manslaughter charge to 14 years imprisonment. The court ordered that this sentence be served concurrently with the conspiracy charge, maintaining the overall sentence of 14 years imprisonment which the Attorney General did not contend was inadequate.
Mr Wacker was implicated in a previous attempt to smuggle migrants into the United Kingdom on 5 April 2000. The attempt was unsuccessful and Mr Wacker was not charged by British authorities.
Ms Guo was implicated in connection with several smuggling operations prior to her involvement with those smuggled in Mr Wacker's van.
Ms Guo first came to the United Kingdom in August 1996, studying English and accounting on a student visa. She began working as an interpreter for asylum applicants, both at the Home Office and in interviews with solicitors. Over a period of 18 months, starting in January 1999, she had dealings with more than 366 asylum applicants, mostly Chinese.
Ms Ying Guo's boyfriend, You Yi, turned himself into the police along with Ms Ying Guo. He was, however, not charged in relation to this venture.
Mr Wacker transported the smuggled migrants in the back of his truck on the final leg of their journey, from Rotterdam, The Netherlands to Dover, United Kingdom. He was held responsible for the deaths of 58 of the smuggled migrants, as he sealed the vent of the truck container, leaving the migrants to suffocate.
Ms Ying Guo was the first point of contact for many smuggled migrants arriving in the United Kingdom from China, including those smuggled by Mr Wacker. Twenty-seven of the migrants who died in Mr Wacker's van had Ms Guo's telephone number on them.
Ms Guo worked as an interpreter for asylum applicants, and became involved in the smuggling operations of Chinese 'snakehead' gangs as a contact inside the United Kingdom.
Mr Chen Xiaokong was the alleged leader of the Chinese 'snakehead' gang apparently responsible for the smuggling operation. He was arrested early in 2001 in Fujian, China and charged with offences relating to migrant smuggling.
Mr Ozcan was arrested by Dutch authorities in mid-January 2001. It is believed that he was the associate of Mr Chen Xiaokong in the Netherlands.
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
R v Wacker [2003] QB 1207
This entry was copied from The Migrant Smuggling Case Database, launched by the University of Queensland Migrant Smuggling Working Group in August 2013.
The case of R v Wacker is one of the most significant migrant smuggling cases in the United Kingdom, not only because of the significant loss of life. Several sources suggest that the events and the prosecution in this case had a significant impact on the migrant smuggling trade from China and the United Kingdom. Police reported that between June 2000 when the deaths were discovered and April 2001 when Mr Wacker was sentenced the numbers of Chinese smuggled migrants being detected in the UK had halved.
The case is also of significance in the context of general criminal law and liability for negligent manslaughter insofar as the Court of Appeal dismissed the suggestion that the smuggled migrants were somehow engaged in joint unlawful activity with the accused because there might have been an element of acceptance of a degree of risk by the victim in order to further the joint enterprise.