A gangmaster was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Tuesday for the manslaughter of 21 Chinese shellfish pickers in northwestern England two years ago.
Lin Liang Ren, 29, was convicted last week following the disaster in fast-rising tides in Morecambe Bay on Feb. 5, 2004.
Justice Richard Henriques sentenced Lin to 12 years for manslaughter and six years for facilitating breaches of the immigration laws, to be served concurrently. He also sentenced Lin to two years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice, to be served consecutively.
Upon release, Henriques recommended that Lin, a Chinese national, be deported.
"You cynically and callously exploited your countrymen and women. You provided dreadful living conditions," Henriques told Lin.
"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," he added.
Lin's girlfriend, Zhao Xiao Qing, 21, and cousin Lin Mu Yong, 31, were convicted of facilitating breaches of the immigration law. Zhao was also found guilty of three charges of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
Zhao was sentenced to two years, nine months in prison, and Henriques recommended that she be deported after serving the sentence.
Henriques said of Zhao that he had rarely if ever heard a more "contrived, deliberate and extended series of lies."
Lin Mu Yong was jailed for four years.
Police believe that 23 shellfish pickers -- all illegal immigrants from China -- died in the incident, but two bodies were never recovered.
Twenty of those whose bodies were recovered were from Fujian Province and the other was from Liaoning Province.
Meanwhile, the police detective who investigated the tragedy said a "virtual slave trade" of illegal immigrants is operating in Britain.
Lancashire Police's Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell said there was far too little awareness of just how badly illegal immigrants are being treated in Britain.
"I hope a wider message goes out, not just to do with cockling but anywhere where illegal immigrants are exploited," Gradwell said at Preston Crown Court. "People have got to be aware of how badly these people are treated. It's a virtual slave trade. We ask people to learn and take their part in preventing this happening."
He cited prostitution as an ever-widening trap for illegal immigrants.
Gradwell said he hoped Lin's jail term would wake people up to the living nightmare that the "land of promise" can turn into.
Many of Lin's charges had paid people-smuggling gangs in China a fortune to be smuggled into Britain.
"They were living in appalling conditions," he said. "They really couldn't speak the language, didn't know where they were, they were living 10 to a room in appalling houses with little heating."
Gradwell was delighted with Lin's sentence and the prospect of his deportation once it is served.
The court heard Lin could face execution if he was tried and convicted again in China.
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