LONE child refugees as young as 11 have disappeared from Home Office-approved hotels, a charity has revealed, prompting fresh calls for ministers to end the “unlawful” policy of housing minors in hotels. 

Official figures show 45 unaccompanied children have gone missing from hotel accommodation in the past 10 months — a rate of one every week. 

The disturbing figures have sparked fresh anger at the government’s continued use of unregulated hotels to house lone children rather than placing them in secure children’s accommodation, with rights groups today demanding ministers end the policy.