Keeping it in the family

A gangmaster has been found guilty of causing the deaths of the 21 drowned Morecambe bay cocklers.

'Lin Liang Ren, originally from China... He and his Chinese girlfriend and cousin were also convicted at Preston Crown Court of helping cockle pickers to break immigration laws.

A father and son from Merseyside were cleared of the immigration charge.

During the trial the court heard that 29-year-old Lin Liang Ren was behind a huge operation in which illegal immigrants scoured the beaches for cockles.'

It is applaudable that someone has been prosecuted for this, after all its not often that such negligence is established and it is of course unfortunate that earlier warnings (before the tragedy) were not heeded. Clearly it is a relief to us all that the evil (& originally Chinese natch) gangmaster has been convicted and of course its good that the names of the innocent have been cleared...

Talking of which...

'David Anthony Eden Snr, 62, from Irby, Merseyside, and David Anthony Eden Jnr, 35, from Prenton, Merseyside, were found not guilty of the facilitation offences.

After the verdicts were read out, judge Mr Justice Henriques QC said he would sentence the three defendants on Tuesday.

All three Chinese could ultimately face deportation, he added.

The Edens were accused of running a company which bought cockles harvested by the cocklers.
Prosecutors alleged they had therefore indirectly employed the cocklers who died, but the jury rejected the claims and cleared the men of trading with the Chinese cockle gangs.'

So that's clear then: they weren't employing them and they didn't run a cockle company...

'The judge refused applications from the Edens for costs after hearing that Mr Eden Snr lied to police about the importance of cockling to his business.'

I can't possibly add anything else.