A 14-year-old girl who was found in a holdall in a car boot in France was subsequently trafficked to the UK – despite officers passing her over to French police, a report has found.
UK Border Force officers had significant safeguarding concerns about the girl and handed her over to French border control, Police Aux Frontieres. However about a month later, the girl was taken clandestinely to the UK, HM chief inspector of prisons has revealed.
The young child was held in a warehouse with five other women before she managed to escape, fearing she would be forced into prostitution, the watchdog found.
The case emerged in a shocking report into UK-run detention sites in France, published on Monday, following an inspection in November last year.
The five short-term holding sites near Calais and Dunkirk house people who have travelled on coaches and cars to French ferry ports, or people found hidden in commercial lorries.
They are run by the UK Border Force together with contractor Mitie Care and Custody and have been described as “legal and procedural grey zones” by NGOs.
People who are stopped can be held at the sites for no more than 24 hours, after which they must be allowed to continue their journey to the UK or be handed over to French police.
The chief inspector also found that a 16-year-old boy, who had disclosed a history of abuse and trafficking, was also re-trafficked to the UK after being picked up by British Border Force. He too was passed on to French police, and was then found in the UK two weeks later.
UK police then referred him to the government’s support scheme for suspected victims of modern slavery and the Home Office concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe he had been trafficked.
The inspection also found:
- Some of the UK-run short-term detention sites in France were “barely fit for purpose”, according to inspectors
- Some people, including children, had been held for over 10 hours at the sites
- Border Force were failing to document safeguarding referrals for vulnerable detainees
- In May 2024, three officers used pain-inducing techniques on a detainee who then lost consciousness
HM prison’s inspectorate last inspected the short-term holding facilities in 2019, and were accompanied on the 2024 visit by French monitors.
Some improvements had been made since 2019, with a new facility at Calais Freight port ending “the unacceptable practice of confining clandestine travellers in rundown vans without clear authority”.
However the facilities at Coquelles, where the Eurotunnel is located, were “at times barely fit for purpose”, chief inspector Charlie Taylor said.
The holding rooms at the Coquelles sites had “very little natural light” and “detainees could not go into the open air or easily sleep”.
A total of 3,778 people had been held across the five sites between April and September 2024, with the most common nationalities being Romanian, Sudanese, Polish and Eritrean. The five locations were Calais Tourist and Freight, Coquelles Tourist and Freight, and Dunkirk.
Inspectors also found that safeguarding referrals were not always made to French police and there was “weak governance of use of force by Border Force staff”.
The report comes after The Independent published data showing that migrants attempting to make their way to Britain had been held at four of these sites more than 9,000 times from July 2023 to June 2024.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We regard the dignity and welfare of people detained in our care as being of utmost importance.
“We will continue to work closely with the French and will dismantle the evil people smugglers business models and bring them to justice.”
The French ministry of interior have been contacted for comment.
