The adult male had been aged 18 at the time but deliberately tried to 'deceive' authorities by claiming he was a teenager, an asylum tribunal found.
An 18-year-old Iranian asylum seeker was fined £16,000 after pretending to be a child to enter the UK in 2022. He claimed asylum, but social workers assessed him as over 18. The British Red Cross challenged the age assessment, but a tribunal ruled he was 18, noting his physical characteristics and deeming him an unconvincing witness.
