Almost 150 children and young people went missing without trace from local authority care homes last year, according to returns from local councils. Most were juvenile asylum seekers who had arrived in the UK alone.

The pattern of disappearances suggests they were victims of trafficking operations and were eventually forced into marriage, domestic servitude or sexual exploitation in Britain, the Care Leavers’ Association (CLA) warned.

The organisation, which submitted freedom of information requests to more than 200 councils for the survey, identified 145 youngsters who had left care homes without permission and could no longer be contacted between September 2008 and September this year.

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