Lin Liang Ren sentenced.

Mr Justice Henriques sentenced Lin Liang Ren to 12 years for the manslaughter charges and six years for the facilitation charges, which he ordered should run concurrently. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/4851194.stm

Morecambe Bay Cockling Trial Ends (Updated)

The Morecambe Bay Cockle Picking Trial has come to an end today. Lin Liang Ren: Guilty of 21 counts of Manslaughter. David Anthony Eden (Snr.): Not guilty of facilitation. David Anthony Eden (Jnr.): Not guilty of facilitation. Lin Liang Ren was also found guilty of facilitation and perverting the course of justice. Lin Mu Yong and Zhao Xiao Qing were also found guilty of facilitation. More from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/4832454.stm

Morecambe Bay in the News

Reporting of the so called "Morecambe Bay Cockling Deaths Trial" has been slim of late. Reports about the changes in the account Lin Liang Ren has given to police have been reported in the press this week. The News & Star say:

He initially gave officers a false name, saying he had entered the UK illegally with £700 in cash but had no idea what cockling was and had never even heard people discussing it. But in a second interview he changed his story, saying he had £7,000 with him when he entered the UK and admitted previously cockling in Scotland and Cumbria.

The BBC say:

He told officers on the night of the tragedy he had been helping the cocklers, dragging bags out of the sea and looking after their vehicles. When asked if he was ever in charge, he answered: "No."

The trial is continuing at Preston Crown Court.

Morecambe Bay Cockle Picking Trial.

I have been following the Morecambe Bay cockle picking trial. Since the initial flurry of enthusiasm from the press, there has been very little written about it. There are three people on trial:

• Lin Liang Ren
  Who denies 21 counts of manslaughter. He also denies perverting the course of justice and facilitation.
• Zhao Xiao Qing
  Who denies perverting the course of justice and facilitation.
• Lin Mu Yong
  Who denies facilitation.

Yesterday it was alleged that the government department responsible (North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee) for issuing fishing permits had known that the workers in Morecambe Bay were working illegally. They denied it. The BBC news report goes on to say:

The court was told the Department for Work and Pensions allegedly contacted the NWNWSFC a month before the tragedy, to say that at least 30% of the permits which had been issued had been wrongly given to people who were already on state benefit. Also, it said that all of those cockling permits had contained bogus or fake national insurance numbers.
Full report from the BBC here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lancashire/4500042.stm

I have put my other posts on this here: http://graham.doel.org/index.php/category/morecambe/cockle-picking-disaster/

Morecambe Bay Cockling Trial

Morecambe Bay Cockling Trial The trial of those accused of manslaughter and other related charges after at least 21 people died while picking cockles in Morecambe Bay is continuing. To be honest there has not been much new that has been reported in the press since I last wrote about it (on the 3rd of October). The court has heard a transcript of one of the 999 calls read out. Several other incidents where the emergency services have been called to rescue people from the bay were also reported to the court. There has been another major incident involving migrant workers which could have been as disastrous as the Morecambe Bay disaster. 13 Latvian workers had to be rescued when they were abandoned on an island off the coast of Dublin. You can read a little about it on the Ireland On-line website.

Morecambe Bay Cockling Deaths Trial

I have been following the Morecambe Bay cockling deaths trial in the news.  There are the headlines from the BBC:

A survivor of the Morecambe Bay cockle picking disaster has told Preston Crown Court she was left so traumatised she cannot stand hearing the sea.
Evidence from Zhang Ping who escaped by leaving early.

Chinese cocklers ignored attempts by fishermen to warn them of the dangers posed by the incoming tide, Preston Crown Court heard.
Evidence from Trevor Fleming, a local fisherman.

The sandbanks where 21 Chinese people drowned in rising tides should never have been open to cockle pickers, a Morecambe Bay expert told a jury.
Evidence from Cedric Robinson, Queen's guide to Morecambe Bay.

The jury in the trial of five people charged over the deaths of 21 Chinese cockle pickers has visited Morecambe Bay where the deaths occurred in 2004.

 

Five people are accused of various charges and all have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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Morecambe is about to hit the headlines again.

September 14, 2005 by Graham Doel  
Filed under Cockle Picking Disaster

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The deaths of 21 cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay last year is going to fling Morecambe into the headlines again. The trial of the four people accused of manslaughter has been postponed because of legal arguments (more here from reuters). It was due to start on Tuesday but it will now start on Monday. The trial of these men is expected to last about four months in total. I expect it will hit the news when it starts and when it ends.

Morecambe is such an amazing place to live, it is a shame that it has to hit the headlines because of tragedy.

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