As third load of ‘child refugees’ arrives from Calais as official figures reveal TWO THIRDS of those who had ages assessed were found to be adults

AS THE third batch of so-called ‘child refugees’ arrive in Britain this morning it has been revealed more than two-thirds of them who had their ages assessed by the Home Office were found to actually be adults, official figures show.

The Tory MP David Davies has called for tests on teeth to verify the age of teenage migrants, who are all male, after he said a number who arrived in the UK from Calais this week “don’t look like children”.

Despite criticism for his stance overnight he defended the idea this morning, saying the authorities should not be “naive” about the issue of adults trying to get into the UK.

He said refugees who had been through an ordeal to reach the UK would not be concerned about having their age checked.

“Someone who is willing to throw themselves on to an electrified rail line or jump into a moving lorry isn’t going to be terribly worried about having an X-ray,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“We must not be naive about this. It’s no good Lily Allen turning up with tears in her eyes and all the rest of it – we need to be quite hard-nosed here.

“People are desperate, I understand that, and they will say what they need to say to get in.

“When I was in the camp in Calais there were caravans with notices on saying ‘Come here, we will coach you in what to say to get into the UK’.”

He added: “People in Britain, I think, want to help children but we don’t want to be taken for a free ride either by people who seem to have got to the front of the queue even though they clearly look, in some cases, a lot older than 18.”

Mr Davies also said he did not accept that it was “intrusive” to take an X-ray of a migrant.

It comes after data from the year ending in June revealed that 1,060 asylum applicants’ ages were called into question.

Of the 933 who were recorded as having an age assessment, 636 (68%) were deemed to be over 18.

From January 2006 to June 2016, 11,847 applicants were assessed for their age, of whom 5,278 (45%) were found to be over 18.

The Monmouth MP has been condemned by the British Dental Association, who said demands for testing on those heading to Britain from the Jungle refugee camp were “inappropriate and unethical”.

“We are vigorously opposed to the use of dental X-rays to determine whether asylum seekers have reached 18,” a spokesman said.

“It’s not only an inaccurate method for assessing age, but it is both inappropriate and unethical to take radiographs of people when there is no health benefit for them.

“X-rays taken for a clinically justified reason must not be used for another purpose without the patient’s informed consent, without coercion and in full knowledge of how the radiograph will be used and by whom.”