AN ASYLUM seeker with a receding hairline and facial hair was declared a child by immigration judges, despite the Home Office insisting he’s at least 23.
The Sudanese man arrived in the UK on a small boat across the Channel and claimed he was 16.
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An immigration tribunal overturned a Home Office decision deeming him an adult, and as a result, he will be deemed a child during his asylum application, according to papers seen by The Daily Telegraph.
The council responsible for his care must also pay £30,000 towards his legal bill.
It comes after the topic of asylum seekers dominated Prime Minister’s Questions last week, with Sir Keir Starmer vowing to close a “legal loophole” that enabled a Gaza family to remain in the country.
The tribunal was told the man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – arrived on September 6 2023 after fleeing his homeland through Libya, Tunisia, Italy and France.
He gave his date of birth as April 3 2007 on claiming asylum.
Home Office officials and the borough council for Hounslow in west London, where he’s living, disputed the decision.
The government department said a full aged assessment carried out in April last year confirmed he was of adult age.
The hearing was told assessors said the man had a “receding hairline” and “thick facial hair”, as well as crows feet and forehead lines.
He was moved to adult asylum support accommodation before his lawyers launched the claim for a judicial review.
In December 2023, a judge ordered he be moved to a children’s accommodation while legal proceedings were carried out.
The case was then heard in full in December by Judge Hugo Norton-Taylor, who also oversaw the Gaza family case, and Judge Sarah Pinder.
They ruled in the asylum seeker’s favour and ordered the government age assessments be thrown out.
The judges said it was “more likely than not that [the asylum seeker] has provided a true account of his age and date of birth”.
It comes after a Nigerian woman was granted the right to stay in the UK after joining a terror group to boost her claim.
Upper tribunal judge Gemma Loughran, who gave the 49-year-old Nigerian the right to stay, acknowledged she was being dishonest about her political beliefs.
The judge said she became involved with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IOPB) only “in order to create a claim for asylum”.
The woman came to the UK in 2011 and joined the separatist group in 2017, reports The Daily Telegraph, which has seen court documents relating to the case.
IOPB has been blamed for acts of violence against the Nigerian state, where it has been banned as a terrorist organisation – but it’s not proscribed in Britain.
Ms Loughran said the asylum seeker’s involvement with the group meant she had a “well-founded fear of persecution” under human rights laws.
The woman had submitted multiple appeals after her right to remain in the UK was rejected over a 10-year period – this included claims she was a trafficking victim.
PAEDO AVOIDS DEPORTATION
Meanwhile, a paedophile dad jailed for child sex offences escaped deportation to Pakistan after a UK judge ruled it would be “unduly harsh” on his two toddlers.
The unnamed father, who was granted anonymity by an immigration court, had been banned from living with his kids after attempting to solicit three “barely pubescent” girls for sex.
He was jailed for 18 months. A lower tribunal judge, however, ruled he should not be deported back to his homeland due to the impact on his own children.
The Home Office has appealed against the decision made under article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights.
