Two men have been ordered to pay £54,000 after they were jailed following the death of man inside a shipping container found in Tilbury.

Martin McGlinchey, 50, of Derryloughlan Road, Dungannon, County Tyrone, was ordered by Basildon Crown Court on Friday, September 29, to pay £10,000 through the Proceeds of Crime Act. 

On Thursday, July 13, the same court ruled that Stephen Mclaughlin, 37, of Rose Park, Limavardy, County Londonderry, to pay £44,000 through the Proceeds of Crime Act. 

Mclaughlin was jailed for eight years and McGlinchey for nine years for conspiracy to facilitate illegal entry into the country at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday, June 16 last year.

A third man, Taha Sharif, 39, of High Cross Road, Tottenham, was sentenced to four years for the same offence at Basildon Crown Court in July 2015. 

All three men were found guilty of the offence following a trial, which followed an investigation led by Detective Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore, of Harlow Major Investigations Team.

On August 16, 2014, 35 people were discovered inside a shipping container at the Port of Tilbury.

The 10 men, 10 women and 15 children, who were all Afghan nationals who were seeking asylum, were found by port staff just after 6.30am.

One of the men, 40-year-old Meet Singh Kapoor, was found dead inside the container. 

A post mortem examination revealed he had died of natural causes, however, his family, who were travelling with him, suffered the trauma of watching him die, knowing they were powerless to help or seek medical aid.

DC Jonathan Williams, Serious Organised Crime Unit financial investigator, said: “Mclaughlin and McGlinchey treated vulnerable people seeking help in an appalling way.

"They were greedy criminals who prevented a man who was trying to better his life receive the medical help he needed.

“Even though we could not prove that the men concerned had received money from the people trafficking, this case demonstrates the lengths that we will go to recover huge sums of cash from convicted criminals.”