A BRITISH foster mum who took in a refugee she believed to be 12 has spoken of her fear when he became "menacing" after she took him into her home - and even threatened to KILL her family.

She welcomed the Abdul, a "quiet country lad" from Afghanistan, into her family home after social workers said he was just 12.

5 Julie describes her terrifying experiences on TV's Loose Women

Julie, who spoke anonymously on ITV's Loose Women, told the hosts: "When I walked into the room I didn't think he was the person they were referring to.

"He looked about 19. He was very quiet and very timid. Obviously I just took it like he was in shock.

"I didn't want to hurt his feelings, I don't usually take teenagers, I take younger children, but I thought he needed a home and didn't think anymore of it.

"We went to a dental appointment and the dentist age-assessed him between 18 and 21."

Soon after the refugee became threatening and his mood changed after he made phone calls.

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5 Women and children protest at the notorious Jungle camp as migrants leave and the authorities demolish the site on October 26, 2016. Neither of these children are the person mentioned on Loose Women Credit: Getty Images

Julie said: "I became very frightened, he became quite menacing.

She described an occasion where she found him staring at a photo of her and her daughter on the fridge and said it was as if "he was trying to intimidate me through my daughter".

She said: "I thought, 'Don’t turn around', but I could see what he was doing through the corner of my eye.

"He then walked up behind me, and I can still feel his breath on my neck and I can remember feeling petrified."

She later discovered he had looked up 'extremist' websites on his phone and had joked in messages to friends that about tricking Britain into thinking he was a child.

Police arrested the refugee after her family unveiled his messages to his own family laughing about his deception.

Julie said: "He made threats before police took him. He did say, 'I’ll kill you all, I know where you live.

5 The Home Office reportedly rejected help testing the ages of child migrants. This is not the migrant mentioned in the Loose Women segment Credit: London News Pictures

"I’m very frightened, I know he’s not being properly watched, I’ve changed the locks and I’m constantly vigilant."

She later found out he was not the person he had been arrested in Belgium while posing as a child refugee.

She added: "I found out that he claimed asylum there as 17-year-old. I couldn’t understand why that information wasn’t passed on to me."

In December concerns were raised by some MPs about the age of the so-called ‘child’ refugees arriving in Britain.

Tory David Davies called for dental testing to be carried out on the youths, who were granted asylum in Britain before the Jungle refugee camp in Calais was torn down.

Some of the first wave of arrivals provoked speculation over their ages amid suggestions some appeared to look much older than teenagers.

5 A picture of a migrant arriving in south London from October 2016. He is not the migrant mentioned in the Loose Women interview Credit: SWNS

5 A welcome party for migrant children arriving at the Home Office centre in south London in October 2016 Credit: SWNS

Mr Davies also said he did not accept that it was “intrusive” to take an X-ray of a migrant after the British Dental Association said demands for testing on those heading to Britain from the Jungle refugee camp were "inappropriate and unethical".

He also referenced pop star Lily Allen, who appeared on TV apologising and crying after speaking to child migrants in Calais.

UK TAKES 750 MIGRANT CHILDREN A scheme to move 750 unaccompanied children to the UK was launched in October. Many were reunited with family members already in the UK in December. Children who have family links were admitted to the UK under the Dublin regulation, where there must be evidence to prove the youngsters have relatives who can care for them. However, unaccompanied and vulnerable children - such as girls under 13 - are given refuge under the 'Dubs amendment'. Others, without family ties, have arrived under the "Dubs amendment" rules which allow particularly vulnerable children - such as girls and those under 13 - refuge in the UK.



He added: "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 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."

More than two-thirds of child migrants who had their ages assessed by the Home Office were found to actually be adults, official figures show.

Data from the year ending in June 2016 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.