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

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

Emergency services

descended on a lorry park yesterday morning after café 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 failed to flush out all of the suspected migrants.

Again when the truck was checked at the border in Dover, officers failed to find the stowaway.

But when the lorry arrived at the park in Sellindge at around 8am, the suspected migrant was discovered wrapped in plastic-like cling film with dozens of magazines on top of him.

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

Café owner Patrick Breen, 65, said: "The truck driver had reported immigrants at Calais and police and found several of them hiding in the back.

"But one of the migrants had concealed himself so cleverly he wasn't found and 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 a leg of a man.

"He was covered head to toe in plastic filming, like the cling film you get around building pallets and one of the other lorry drivers got into the back with the driver and uncovered the body.

"The man was covered partially in magazines which I think he had placed on top of him to try and conceal himself" - Patrick Breen

"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 in, and helped police remove the lorry's load to gain access to the body "using a forklift truck".

A Kent Police spokesperson said: "Officers and the ambulance service attended and a man in the rear of the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene.

"It is believed the lorry had travelled from France and inquiries are on-going to identify the man and ascertain the cause of the death.

Kent Fire and Rescue said: "Kent Fire and Rescue assisted Kent Police by helping to remove a load from the rear of the lorry using a forklift."