BRITAIN: 14 years jail for causing cockling disaster; Ruthless gangmaster's greed killed at least 21.Byline: By CHARLIE HAMILTON A RUTHLESS gangmaster was yesterday jailed for 14 years after his "truly shocking" behaviour and avarice av·a·rice n. Immoderate desire for wealth; cupidity. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin av caused the death of at least 21 Chinese cocklers. Lin Lian Ren, 29, fled "with supreme cowardice" as his gang of workers drowned after being caught in fast rising tides on Warton Sands, off Hest Bank, Lancashire, on the night of February 5, 2004. Lin Liang Ren, of Liverpool, showed no emotion as Mr Justice Richard Hen-riques passed sentence at Preston Crown Court. The gangmaster was convicted last week of 21 counts of manslaughter following a seven-month trial. The entire 10-woman and two-man jury returned to Court 1 to hear the judge pass sentence. Mr Justice Henriques condemned Lin Liang Ren for "cynically and callously" neglecting the cocklers and for showing "not a flicker of remorse or sadness" for the deaths. Lin Liang Ren was the mastermind behind the operation which saw up to 70 Chinese men and women scour scour, scours 1. the chemical and physical cleaning of fleece wool. 2. diarrhea. dietetic scour see dietary diarrhea. peat scour see secondary nutritional copper deficiency. the beaches to harvest cockles cockles saponariaofficinalis. . Mr Henriques said: "In the summer of 2003, having observed the easy money to be made in cockling by your cousin Lin Mu Yong, you decided to become a cockling boss yourself. "You cynically and callously exploited your countrymen and women. You provided dreadful living conditions. "On the sands you showed no regard whatsoever for their safety, requiring workers to work dreadfully long hours, sometimes in appalling weather and in the dark. "For some eight months you lived the high life with several girlfriends. "You visited restaurants and casinos and you once wagered pounds 600 upon the single turn of a card at blackjack blackjack, one of the world's most widely played gambling card games; also known as twenty-one or vingt-et-un. Despite contesting claims between the French and Italians, its origins are unknown. on the very night before the tragedy." He criticised him for failing to call the emergency services emergency services Emergency care '…services …necessary to prevent death or serious impairment of health and, because of the danger to life or health, require the use of the most accessible hospital available and equipped to furnish those services' for 50 minutes as the extent of the disaster became clear. Mr Justice Henriques added: "You gave the rescuers no chance. Only a miracle and the great expertise of the emergency services saved Li Hua. "Your gross negligence An indifference to, and a blatant violation of, a legal duty with respect to the rights of others. Gross negligence is a conscious and voluntary disregard of the need to use reasonable care, which is likely to cause foreseeable grave injury or harm to persons, property, or cost 21 lives. "The single effective cause of this tragic event was your avarice." Lin Liang Ren's cousin Lin Mu Yong, 31, from Liverpool, was jailed for four years for facilitation and nine months for 10 unrelated counterfeit offences. Lin Liang Ren's girlfriend, Zhao Xiao Qing, also of Liverpool, was sentenced to two years nine months for one count of facilitation and three counts of perverting the course of justice In English or Irish law, perversion of the course of justice is a criminal offence in which someone acts in a manner that in some way prevents justice being served on either themselves or on a third party. Perverting the course of justice is an offence in common law. . A moving letter was read to the court from a little Chinese boy who was orphaned in the tragedy. In an emotional account of his pain, 15-year-old Xu Bin described how the death of his parents was a result of "these evil-minded persons". At least 26 children lost parents in the tragedy. Mr Justice Henriques sentenced Lin Liang Ren to 12 years for the manslaughter charges and six years for the facilitation charges, to run concurrently. Lin Liang Ren was jailed for a further two years for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The judge added these should run consecutively. Police believe 23 Chinese men and women died on the beach yet only 21 bodies were ever recovered. The judge recommended that all three defendants should be deported to China after serving their prison sentences where they may face another trial and possible execution. welshnews@dailypost.co.uk CAPTION(S): Lin Lian Ren, 29, whose greed led to the deaths of at least 21 cocklers' Lin Mu Yong (left) and Lin Liang Ren's girlfriend, Zhao Xiao Qing, both of Liverpool, were also jailed in connection with the Morecambe Bay tragedy |
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