UK Judge Rules Eritrean Who Entered in HGV Was 16, Orders Home Office to Pay £10,000

An asylum judge in London ruled that an Eritrean male who entered the UK in March 2024 was 16 years old upon arrival. GB News reported that Upper Tribunal Judge Gaenor Bruce ordered the Home Office to pay £10,000 in legal costs to the migrant. The man entered Britain in the back of an HGV after two prior attempts.

He was first stopped by UK Border Force in a controlled area of the port of Dunkirk in February 2024. Three days later he was caught in the back of a lorry. One month after that second attempt he succeeded in entering the country.

During questioning the Eritrean male gave five separate dates of birth to officials. In Dunkirk he provided one name and stated he was born in Eritrea in February 2005. After the second stop he gave another name and claimed a February 2006 date of birth.

Upon successful entry he told officers he was born in April 2007, a date he maintained at the hearing. Immigration officials assessed the man as born in April 1996 based on physical appearance. They recorded a protruding Adam's apple, wrinkles under the eyes, five o'clock shadow, visible red spots and dark marks consistent with recent shaving, and a fine moustache.

Officials did not accept his claim to be a child. Judge Bruce stated she did not agree that the man has a receding hairline or deep lines in his face. She accepted that he has a small neat beard which he sports proudly.

The judge noted she had received expert advice on the rate of growth of facial hair in Eritrean males and observed that children mature at different rates. The Eritrean male claimed he left Eritrea after his mother's death and was taken to Libya for trafficking before travelling across Europe to northern France.