Suspected illegal migrant found dead in back of HGV

Corpse wrapped in cling film discovered in lorry travelling from Calais

A suspected illegal migrant is believed to have suffocated under the weight of baby-clothes catalogues as an HGV travelled across the English Channel.

The body was discovered at a busy lorry park by a panicked lorry driver who had travelled across the Channel through Calais hours before.

Emergency services descended on a lorry park on Tuesday morning after cafe owners called police when the driver pulled the body from the truck.

The Hungarian driver is believed to have discovered several people in the back of his truck at Calais, but Border Force officers failed to flush out all of the suspected migrants.

When the truck was checked once more at the border in Dover, officers again failed to find the stowaway.

But when the lorry arrived at the park alongside the Airport Cafe on the A20 Ashford Road in Sellindge at around 8am, the suspected migrant was discovered wrapped in plasticlike cling film with dozens of magazines on top of him.

Police believe the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene, had travelled from France, and are working to identify the body.

Cafe owner Patrick Breen, 65, said: “The truck driver had reported immi- grants at Calais, and police found several of them hiding in the back.

“But one of the migrants had concealed himself so cleverly he wasn’t found.

“Even when dogs searched the truck at Dover, the guy still wasn’t discovered.

“When he drove into our lorry park, he came running across to my wife, Julie, and he took her over to the lorry, where she saw a boot and the leg of a man.

“He was covered head to toe in plastic filming, like the cling film you get around building pallets.

“One of the other lorry drivers got into the back with the driver and uncovered the body.

“The driver, who was foreign – I think from Hungary, asked my wife to call police.

“The man was covered partially in magazines, which I think he had placed on top of him to try and conceal himself.”

Firefighters were also called to the scene at 8.29am, and helped police to remove the lorry’s load to provide access to the body using a forklift truck.

A police spokesman said: “Officers and the ambulance service attended, and a man found in the rear of the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It is believed the lorry had travelled from France, and inquiries are ongoing to identify the man and ascertain the cause of the death.

Kent Fire and Rescue said: “We assisted police by helping to remove a load from the rear of the lorry using a forklift.”

‘He took my wife over to the lorry where she saw a boot and the leg of a man’