Two human traffickers have been jailed after a man died inside a shipping container as he travelled with his family to seek asylum in the UK.

Stephen McLaughlin, 36, and Martin McGlinchey, 49, were convicted on Thursday, June 16 conspiracy to facilitate illegal entry into the country following a re-trial at Basildon Crown Court.

Mr McLaughlin, of County Londonderry, was jailed for eight years and Mr McGlinchey, of County Tyrone, for nine years.

A third man, Taha Sharif, 39, of High Cross Road, Tottenham, was found guilty of the same offence after his trial last July, and is due to be sentenced on June 23.

The sentencing comes after 35 people, including 15 children, were discovered inside a shipping container at the Port of Tilbury on August 16, 2014.

One of the asylum seekers, who were all Afghan nationals, was found dead in the container which had made a 14 hour journey to the UK from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

A post mortem revealed that 40-year-old Meet Singh Kapoor had died of natural causes, whilst his family were forced to watch, unable to seek help or medical aid.

The court heard how Mr McGlinchey had organised the lorry’s movements and drove the container to Dover, while Mr Mclaughin supplied the lorry and allowed his shipping account to be used for the containers journeys. Mr Sharif then organised the loading of people into the container.

The Sikh asylum seekers claimed in court that in order to escape radical Muslims in Afghanistan, each family aboard the container had paid around £28,000 for the crossing, which involved having to sell their businesses, stock and family jewellery.

The adult men described how the group sat on top of bowsers in the container, becoming sick and cold as their clothes got wet.

There were no toilets in the dark container, and children had to be sick into carrier bags.

They spoke of praying to God and believing they would die as it became increasingly difficult to breathe after containers were loaded next to the one they were travelling in, closing up the only two air holes.

When the container arrived at Tilbury, port staff heard banging and opened it, immediately calling police and ambulance services upon finding people inside.

The travellers were taken to various hospitals across south Essex, where they received treatment for shock, exhaustion and dehydration.

Once they were well enough, they were interviewed by the police and cared for by the local Sikh community of Thurrock, before being passed into the care of the UK Border Force agencies.

Detective chief inspector Martin Pasmore, who led the investigation, said “I welcome today's verdict and sentence, which reflect the serious nature of this sickening crime.

“Vulnerable people seeking help were treated in an appalling way at the hands of these greedy criminals, which prevented any prospect of medical help for Mr Kapoor.

“My thoughts remain very much with his wife, children, family and friends, and the other surviving asylum seekers who endured such distressing and shocking conditions.

“I am very grateful to the local Sikh community and the Red Cross who in the days following the incident were instrumental in quickly building a rapport between the victims and police as well as providing food and essential items.

“This has been a long and complex investigation involving a number of agencies and I would like to thank everyone involved in this case for their assistance.”