Trafficked children arriving alone at Dover were sent straight back to France under a secret "gentleman's agreement" that was in force since at least 1995, an investigation by the children's commissioner for England has revealed. The report by Maggie Atkinson reveals that unaccompanied children who arrived clandestinely at Dover docks or through the Channel tunnel are often hungry, ill, exhausted and distressed, yet were returned to France within 24 hours if they did not immediately apply for asylum. The children, who arrived on the backs of lorries or in containers, included those being trafficked for exploitation as well as those fleeing war zones and persecution. Read More: Alan Travis, The Guardian, 17/01/12