The 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland who was arrested on suspicion of murder after 39 bodies were found in the trailer of a truck he was driving in Essex, England, was “horrified” to discover the dead bodies, a friend has claimed.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Paul Berry, an attorney in Northern Ireland, told CNN that the arrested driver was Morris “Mo” Robinson, from Armagh; but authorities have not confirmed the suspect’s identity.

An identified friend of Robinson’s told the Daily Mail that Robinson had no idea there were bodies in the trailer of the truck he had attached his tractor early Wednesday morning. The friend said that Robinson made the discovery when he was reaching for some paperwork inside a door.

“When he opened the container up and saw all the dead bodies, he was absolutely horrified—as anyone would be—and called the ambulance service who in turn alerted the police,” the friend told the Daily Mail.

“Mo is from the nicest family you could meet. I’m telling you now, he wouldn’t have known those people were in the back.”

The attorney who identified the suspect described the man’s family as “salt of the earth” in an interview with CNN.

Much remains unknown about the circumstances that led to the deaths of 39 Chinese nationals, including one teenage girl; or the specifics of Robinson’s employment.

“The local community is hoping that he [Mo Robinson] has been caught up innocently in this matter but that’s in the hands of Essex Police, and we will leave it in their professional hands to try to catch the perpetrators of this,” Paul Berry told BBC.

This is a developing story. CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.

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