The number of asylum seekers falsely claiming to be children has quadrupled in the past decade, the Daily Mail can today reveal.
Home Office statistics show the number of asylum seekers found to be lying about being under 18 was 224 in 2014 but has now spiralled to more than 1,000 as record numbers now pretend to be minors.
Campaigners warn that many arrivals destroy their identification documents before reaching Britain in a desperate attempt to cheat the system.
Child refugees cannot be deported and have the rights to the same healthcare, education and sustenance as British children.
They are also provided housing by local councils instead of the Home Office, often in independent living arrangements or in foster homes.
The countries with the most unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) coming to the UK in 2024 were Sudan (1,188), Afghanistan (679), Iran (598), Vietnam (414) and Syria (369).
Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK, told the Daily Mail: ‘We have long highlighted the serious risks to children’s safety when adults posing as minors are placed among actual minors.
‘Although powers exist to carry out scientific age-assessment tests in disputed cases, there is little evidence that they are ever used.
‘Instead, final decisions are left to social workers and “experts”, and claimants are routinely given the benefit of the doubt.
‘When the government had the chance to strengthen the law through the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, it chose not to do so.’
The alarming rise in asylum seekers falsely claiming to be children to sneak into Britain comes as the nation is still reeling after two Afghan 17-year-olds were found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl this week.
Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal had arrived only months earlier in small boats before assaulting the girl in a Leamington Spa park on May 10.
Phone footage captured by the victim was so appalling that even one of the boy’s own barristers warned it would lead to ‘disorder’ if ‘the general public were exposed’ to it.
The footage, played at Warwick Crown Court, also showed her weeping, screaming ‘help’ and begging not to be taken to the park.
On Monday, Jahanzeb was jailed for ten years and eight months, and Niazal for nine years and ten months.
Robert Bates, of the Centre for Migration Control, told the Daily Mail: ‘It is far too easy for illegal migrants to lie about their age in the hope it will help their asylum application.
‘Britain is one of the only countries in Europe that does not scientifically assess the age of illegal migrants. This exposes the public, and especially children, to intolerable risks, with unvetted men being placed in schools and foster homes.
‘Most child asylum seekers are actually in their late teens, have fully developed, and are far from vulnerable.
‘The monsters convicted of rape in Leamington are proof that even those classified as child asylum seekers are capable of committing evil on the streets of Britain.
‘There is a clear incentive for asylum seekers to lie about their age, as they know it increases the chances of their application being approved, and gives them access to a broader range of benefits.’
One notorious case of a lying asylum seeker entering the UK and committing horrific crimes was Afghan asylum seeker Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, who fatally stabbed 21-year-old aspiring marine Tom Roberts in 2022.
Abdulrahimzai claimed to be a 14-year-old fleeing the Taliban when he arrived by ferry to Poole, but he was actually 19.
He had previously shot dead two men in Serbia on his way to Britain but was still allowed into the UK and enrolled in a secondary school in Bournemouth.
There were multiple incidents with Abdulrahimzai carrying knives, and in violent incidents hurt other students at school and tried to headbutt his foster carer.
In the coroner’s report into Mr Roberts’ death, it was noted that when Abdulrahimzai arrived, no assessment was carried out to assess his age.
Another infamous case of an asylum seeker lying about their age to enter the UK was Ahmed Hassan, the Parsons Green Tube bomber.
The Iraqi-born terrorist claimed to be a 16-year-old orphan who had been kidnapped by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) when he illegally entered the UK in 2015.
He was put up in a foster home and studied at college, where his tutor noticed he was physically and mentally older than he claimed to be.
His real age remains unknown, but the judge who jailed the Iraqi for 34 years in 2018 said he was satisfied the bomber was between 18 and 21.
At his sentencing, the judge told the court: ‘I am satisfied that you lied about your date of birth on arrival in order to glean the special privileges accorded to children entering the UK.’
And in 2010, Iraqi asylum seeker Rabar Hamad was studying for his GCSEs when he was found to be 20, a whole four years older than he claimed.
The alarming cases come after a damning report this summer by borders inspector David Bolt found a ‘lack of curiosity’ from immigration staff about the genuine age of Channel migrants.
One Iranian who arrived by small boat in October 2023 with grey hair stubble even managed to pass for 17. Despite being assessed as 22 years old, he was given the benefit of the doubt, allowing him to be treated as a child.
There have long been fears that some of those who cross the Channel in small boats – who often don’t carry official documents such as passports – are wrongly claiming to be children.
Unaccompanied minors are more likely to be granted asylum than adults, with some suspected of faking their ages in a bid to boost their chances of staying in the UK.
In the first half of 2024, a total of 1,317 migrants claiming to be minors at the border were later judged to be adults.
A total of 2,122 age-dispute cases were raised during the same period.
The Home Office said age dispute data is not available for the second half of 2024 or beyond due to ongoing work on a new case working system.
But if the numbers for that year had continued at the same rate for the rest of the year, they would have reached 2,634 – the highest on record.
In July, the Government announced it would trial AI-powered facial recognition technology to determine whether Channel migrants are being wrongly identified as children.
The Home Office said it would test the new technology with the hope that it could be fully integrated into the asylum system in 2026.
Ministers admitted that assessing the age of asylum seekers is ‘an incredibly complex and difficult task’ but said AI might soon provide quick and cost-effective results.
The AI will be trained on millions of images where an individual’s age is verifiable so that it is able to produce an age estimate with a known degree of accuracy for an individual whose age is unknown or disputed.
The previous Tory government proposed using scientific methods, such as X-rays, CT scans or MRI imaging on key parts of the body, to assess the age of asylum seekers.
Powers to conduct such assessments were passed by MPs as part of the 2022 Nationality and Borders Act.
But Home Office minister Angela Eagle has said the Labour Government has now concluded that using AI technology is the most ‘cost-effective option’.
The technology is now being used by online retailers, social media websites and other companies as part of online age verification tests.
Labour previously watered down laws, introduced by the Tories, that gave ministers the power to treat asylum seekers who refused to undergo scientific age checks as adults.
However, even when the Home Office judges an asylum seeker to be above 18, they still have the right to appeal the decision through the courts.
One example of this was reported earlier this year, when an immigration court ruled a Sudanese asylum seeker was a child despite him having a ‘deep voice’ and ‘very hairy legs’.
The decision overruled a Home Office and council assessment that had claimed his physical appearance ‘very strongly suggested’ he was ‘significantly over 18’ and that he was likely to be around 24.
They also say the court heard he had ‘significant and deep lines on forehead that remain even when he is not making facial movements’.
But the upper tier of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber claimed these were not ‘useful indicators’ of a person’s age and backed the asylum seeker’s claims that he was aged 16.
The Home Office records age dispute cases when a claimant does not have credible documentary or other persuasive evidence to demonstrate their age, which leads to their age being doubted by the Home Office.
Age dispute figures are to the period when the age dispute was raised, which may differ from the period the asylum claim was received or resolved.
Strict age assessments also include close co-operation with the National Age Assessment Board, who have a dedicated team of trained social workers responsible for conducting full age assessments.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Robust age assessments are vital for border security, which is why we carry out strict checks involving specialist social workers.
‘As part of the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times, we are also making use of the latest AI technology to determine when someone is making false claims about their age.’
