Jeremy Clarkson slammed for mocking deaths of 23 Chinese cockle-pickers

By Damien Gayle

Last updated at 8:53 AM on 9th January 2012

'Insulting': Jeremy Clarkson compared synchronised swimming to the deaths of cockle-pickers in Morecambe Bay

Jeremy Clarkson's comments have once again sparked fury after he compared synchronised swimming to the deaths of 23 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe.

In a column for the Sun, the Top Gear presenter said the sport amounted to 'Chinese women in hats, upside down, in a bit of water.'

He added: 'You can see that sort of thing on Morecambe Beach. For free.'

Twenty-three Chinese migrant workers were drowned picking cockles in Morecambe Bay in 2004 after they were trapped by the rising tide.

The deaths of the men and women - aged between 18 and 45 - exposed the illegal practices of gangmasters who exploit vulnerable migrant workers for cheap labour.

All of the victims had been illegal immigrants, some of whom had only been in the UK for a few months before the tragedy.

The man who sent them out on to the sands in February 2004 - gangmaster Lin Liang Ren - was later given a 14-year prison sentence for manslaughter.

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The remains of the dead were still being discovered in the area two years ago, with the skull of Liu Qin Ying discovered there in 2010.

Her husband, Yu Hua Xu, was also among those that died, leaving their son in China an orphan after the tragedy.

Rescue workers take away the body of one of the Chinese cockle pickers who died after they were trapped by the rising tide in Morecambe Bay in 2004

Tracy Brown, a Morecambe town councillor said Clarkson's remarks were 'beneath contempt'.

'He is just trying to make himself look big at other people's expense. Many people around here were deeply affected by the tragedy,' she told the Sunday Telegraph.

The Chinese embassy was equally scathing in its response. A spokesman said: 'We deplore and oppose Mr Clarkson's comments, which are insulting and show a woeful disrespect of decency and moral standards.

Tragic: Liu Qin Ying, a mother, was among the 23 killed in the Morecambe Bay tragedy. Her husband also died

'We regret that the Sun has publicised such remarks.' The spokesman added that the newspaper should allow a response from diplomats.

Clarkson's latest remarks come after broadcasting regulator Ofcom received a barrage of complaints when he said during a television interview that striking public sector workers should be 'executed in front of their families'.

The comments - made during The One Show on November 30 - led to more than 21,000 complaints to the BBC and almost 800 to Ofcom itself. Clarkson was forced into issuing a qualified apology.

And last month the broadcaster was accused of racism after mocking Indian culture in a Top Gear Christmas Special.

Some viewers were furious after Clarkson staged a series of Carry On style digs at the country's clothing, trains, toilets, food and history.

He was also roundly condemned earlier last year for comments he made about the energy saving mode on his new television which, he said, made every programme look 'like it's being presented by Lenny Henry in a cave.'

After those comments, war hero Johnson Beharry, 31, from Grenada, said: 'Remarks like this just aren?t funny. They legitimise racism.'

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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083806/Jeremy-Clarkson-slammed-mocking-deaths-23-Chinese-cockle-pickers.html?ITO=1490

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