An asylum seeker who the Home Office and the London Borough of Hounslow decided is at least 23 years old and has a receding hairline as well as thick facial hair was declared a child by judges. 

Hounslow Council previously decided the Sudanese immigrant, who arrived on British shores by crossing the perilous English Channel, was not a 16-year-old teenager – despite his claims. 

But this decision has since been overturned by immigration judges in a recent tribunal, and will therefore be considered a child on his asylum application. 

The council, who care for the man who cannot be identified because of legal reasons, have been lumbered with his legal bills totalling to over £30,000.

Council assessors initially thought the migrant to be ‘much older’, suggesting he had a ‘receding hair line’ and had also been shaving for some time, the tribunal heard. 

They also claimed the man had crow’s feet, a wrinkly forehead as well as a broad chest, according to The Telegraph. 

Hounslow Council claimed the asylum seeker was ‘calculated’ and had tried to hide details from them whilst also being ‘inconsistent’ when it came to his personal information including, his age, name, his origin as well as his ID papers.   

Among the judges who managed the tribunal is Hugo Norton-Taylor, who previously permitted a Palestinian family of six the right to come to Britain after they applied through a refugee scheme designed for Ukrainians

In the Commons exchange last week, Sir Keir said the decision was ‘wrong’ and that the Home Office is ‘already looking at the legal loophole that we need to close in this particular case’.

The Prime Minister has since been told by Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr that it was ‘unacceptable’ of him and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to condemn judges who granted leave to remain to a family of six from Gaza. 

The migrant arrived in Britain on September 6, 2023, after escaping the war in his home country and making the journey through Libya, Tunisia, Italy and then France before making the dangerous journey across the Channel. 

When made his asylum bid after arriving in the UK, he stated that he was born in Omdurman on the west bank of the Nile River, on April 3, 2007 – which would mean he was 16 on arrival and thus a child. 

But those responsible for his accommodation – the Home Office and Hounslow Borough Council, raised questions about his age claims. 

The government department and Hounslow Council later confirmed the man was between 23 to 25 years old after carrying out age assessment in 2023.

After he was placed in adult asylum support in west London, the Sudanese male’s legal team put forward a bid for the conclusion to be legally reviewed. 

In December 2023, he was placed in children’s accommodation while the tribunal was underway. 

Last December Judge Norton-Taylor and Judge Sarah Pinder ruled that the Sudanese male’s age assessments from September 2023 and May 2023 overturned, backing the asylum seeker’s age claims. 

They concluded that was ‘more likely than not that [the asylum seeker] has provided a true account of his age and date of birth’.

• A previous version of this article inaccurately reported as fact that the migrant was aged 23, when this was in fact an estimate made by the London Borough of Hounslow. We also incorrectly reported that the respondent to this case was the Home Office, when in fact it was the London Borough of Hounslow. The article has been amended to make this clear.