An adult asylum seeker who may be as old as 30 posed as a 15-year-old student to attend a high school in Ipswich, the government has confirmed.
The man was removed from Stoke High School after pupils raised concerns about his mature looks – including his 6ft 1in height and full beard.
“He looks way older than many of the teachers,” a Year 11 boy told the Daily Mirror. “It’s like someone’s dad came into school.”
The Home Office has now launched an investigation into how it could have been allowed to happen.
The man himself – who spent six weeks studying at the school after telling officials he was a teenager – faces deportation.
His deceit unravelled after students searched his name on Facebook and found he had previously been an architecture student at the Islamic Azad University in Iran, before living in Erfurt, Germany. Pictures showed him with a hairy chest and drinking beer.
Authorities acted after one student shared a photo on social media with the question: “How’s there a 30-year-old man in our maths class?” It went viral.
The man was removed on the day he was due to sit a mock GCSE in maths.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “We are fully committed to safeguarding children and are looking into the circumstances of this case to understand how it was handled.
“In the absence of clear and credible documentary evidence, Home Office staff must rely on physical appearance and demeanour to make an initial assessment on whether a person claiming to be a child is under 18.
“If an individual is assessed to be under 18 but subsequent concerns about their age are raised – for example, by a school – we will act quickly to reconsider the case.”
The school, which initially contacted the Home Office, previously said it had “followed government and local authority policies and guidance, as we do for any asylum admissions matter”.
Neither it nor Suffolk County Council has commented following the confirmation.
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