Upper Tribunal Judge Gaenor Bruce quashed a Home Office age finding and declared an Eritrean migrant’s date of birth to be April 2007. The man, identified as BSB, arrived in the UK in March 2024 hidden in a lorry and had given multiple dates of birth. The judge found facial hair and recent shaving were not reliable evidence of adulthood, accepted that pressure from people smugglers explained some false statements, and ordered the Home Secretary to pay £10,000 in legal costs.
Judge Rules Eritrean Migrant With 'Healthy Beard' Should Be Treated As A Child — Home Office Age Finding Quashed
Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, is considering an appeal against the tribunal's ruling - Mark Kerrison/In Pictures
An Upper Tribunal judge has ruled that an Eritrean migrant who "proudly sported a healthy beard" should be treated as a child after quashing a Home Office age assessment. The man, identified only as BSB, arrived hidden in the back of a lorry in March 2024 and gave immigration officials multiple names and dates of birth.
Background
BSB travelled from Eritrea to Belgium before boarding a lorry to the UK. On arrival in Folkestone he supplied up to five different dates of birth to officials, with dates ranging from 1996 to 2007. The Home Office's National Age Assessment Board concluded he was an adult and recorded a date of birth of February 2005.
Tribunal Findings
Upper Tribunal Judge Gaenor Bruce heard the case at a judicial review. She rejected the Home Office's reliance on physical indicators — including a five o'clock shadow, a fine moustache, recent shaving and a noticeable Adam's apple — as conclusive proof that the applicant was over 18. The judge noted that the applicant had told assessors he had shaved regularly while in Libya to encourage thicker facial hair because he liked having a beard.
"Drawing all of that together, and bearing in mind that in marginal cases the benefit of the doubt must always lie with the young person, I conclude on the balance of probabilities that the applicant is telling the truth about his date of birth," Judge Bruce wrote.
The tribunal concluded that BSB was born in April 2007 — a date the judge declared in place of the Home Office's February 2005 finding. The decision means the applicant should be treated as a child for the purposes of statutory protections and support.
Credibility, Coercion and Trafficking
The judge accepted evidence that the applicant had lied about elements of his journey, including his claim to have been surprised to wake up in the UK and the use of false names and dates of birth. However, she found these falsehoods were made under pressure from people smugglers and adults travelling with him. The tribunal also confirmed that the man was identified as a victim of trafficking during the assessment process.
Costs And Government Response
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, was ordered to pay £10,000 toward the applicant's legal costs after her lawyers failed to prove he was an adult. A Home Office spokesperson said robust age assessments are vital for border security and added that the department is exploring AI technology to make age verification more consistent.
What This Means
The ruling underscores the difficulty of relying on physical appearance alone to determine age and reaffirms the legal principle that in borderline cases the benefit of the doubt should favour the young person. The applicant is understood to be applying for asylum in the UK.
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