The Year 11 asylum seeker pupil who was really 23: Pair in their 20s found going to school face deportation
By Andy Whelan and Gareth Crickmer
26th September 2010
Two Guinean asylum seekers have been removed from a secondary school and are being investigated by immigration authorities after teachers discovered they were in their 20s.
The pair had been attending classes at Acklam Grange School in Middlesbrough for a year before their real ages were discovered, and they now face possible deportation.
They have been living in council accommodation in the Teesside town with two girls, who they say are their sisters, and a male guardian, who claims to be a relative.
In a further twist, one of the men, now revealed to be 23, has allegedly formed a relationship with a 14-year-old girl at the school, to the alarm of teachers.
Teaching staff became suspicious of the ages of the two men in March following conversations with them. The teachers informed headteacher John Bate, who in turn alerted Middlesbrough Council, and this week the authority withdrew the male pupils from the school.
investigations into their identity, it was revealed that one of the men, Ibrahim Sory Diallo, who claimed to be 15 and was studying in Year 11, has been found to be aged 23.
The other man, who is understood to have claimed to be 14 and was studying in Year 9, has been ruled to be aged in his early 20s.
The men are being investigated by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and, as adults, are not protected by laws that forbid the deportation of minors.
There are no concerns about the ages of the sisters, who are in Year 8. They have been allowed to remain in the school and are still living in local authority accommodation.
Mr Bate, 59, said: ‘This family was presented to us and welcomed by us as being aged accordingly for the school. We commonly take children from all over the world.
‘Staff alerted me after picking up an issue within the family through conversations with the pupils. They reported it to me and I acted immediately by informing the education authority and other outside agencies.
‘There was nothing about their appearance that looked out of the ordinary and there were no disciplinary issues with any of them.
‘They came with a guardian, not their father, but we are in touch with him through the refugee service.’
A Middlesbrough Council spokesman said: ‘Concerns were raised over the age of two students. The decision was taken to remove them from the mainstream school following advice from the UK Border Agency.’
Matthew Coats, Head of Immigration at UKBA, said: ‘Where a new investigation is brought to light we will investigate and work with the appropriate authorities to ensure our immigration laws are not evaded by those who try to cheat the system.’
Police sources have revealed that a man named Ibrahim Sory Diallo, who gave his birth date as June 1995, was arrested in May on suspicion of assault and actual bodily harm against another male – but the case was dropped four weeks later.
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