Syrian migrant with 'deep voice and receding grey hair' is ruled to be a child

A Syrian migrant with "a deep voice and receding grey hair" has been ruled to be a child in a tribunal.

The migrant claimed he was 16 when he arrived in Britain on a small boat last year.

But Derby City Council carried out an age assessment after his arrival and said he was "significantly over 18 years of age".

He was judged to be between the ages of 24 and 26 by senior immigration officers, and was said to have "hairy, muscular arms", "crow's feet lines" around his eyes and "wrinkles" on his forehead.

The migrant, who is a smoker, also had "stubble", a "deep voice", a "visible Adam's apple" and a "receding hairline with grey hair all over his head".

According to an immigration officer, he used his "slim" body stature "to present himself as a child".

The applicant, who was given anonymity and referred to as SMF, appealed the case and has now won in the Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber.

Last year a GB News investigation revealed that thousands of migrants were lying about their age in an attempt to gain asylum in the UK.

SMF claimed his date of birth was August 12, 2008, and the Judge decided in his favour, ruling that he was 16 at the time of his arrival in the UK last year.

Judge Gaenor Bruce - a former human rights lawyer - said: "Young men typically start to develop facial hair in adolescence, but its thickness and rate of growth can vary.

"Life experience, in particular traumatic life experience, can make someone appear older than they actually are; as can genetics, and exposure to the elements."

She added that she did not believe everything he said, adding: "I do not accept that he is entirely illiterate, to the point of being unable to sign his own name on the bottom of his statements.

"That is quite obviously incompatible with his use of a smartphone.

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"Overall I have found the chronology in the applicant's narrative to be internally and externally consistent with what is known about events in norther Syria."

SMF claimed that while in Syria he had lived with his mother on a farm.

He said that he was "scared the entire time" during his journey to the UK.

After his arrival, he was kept at Dover for two days before he was transferred to a migrant hotel in London for two weeks.

He claimed to be fearful of the other migrants in the hotel who he said were "noisy, took drugs, drank and smoked cigarettes".

The Judge declared: "I quash the decision of [Derby City Council] to find that the applicant is 'clearly an adult'."

Derby City Council will be made to pay the migrant's legal costs.

Further details about SMF's immigration status are unknown.

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