An asylum-seeker who became pregnant in an Oxfordshire detention centre at the age of 15 is suing the Government for 50,000 in damages.

Nigerian Jemyotan Golde, 18, claims that being detained at the Campsfield House detention centre, near Kidlington, exposed her to unlawful sex with an adult.

But she was in the centre only because she had convinced everyone she was 18 in order to claim full adult benefits.

Ms Golde, who now is 18, is suing the Home Office, claiming false imprisonment and battery. She is seeking damages of up to 50,000.

She presently lives in a flat in London's Docklands. She said: "I get all my benefits paid and a grant to help me go to college. I am studying computers and IT, which is good. I can also say I am a student if there is a problem with my immigration status."

Her claim for asylum was dismissed as bogus when she landed at Heathrow three years ago and she was sent to Campsfield to await deportation. She said: "I said I was over 18 when I arrived at Heathrow. The camp was depressing, but I met an older man there who became my boyfriend. He made me pregnant, but he is not my boyfriend any more."

She is understood to have had an abortion.

Her case against the Home Office, to be heard in the High Court, claims damages for "battery" because she claims she was "not segregated from adults" despite claiming on her arrival that she was one.

She also claims brutal treatment by a guard who pulled her to safety during a riot.

Home Office spokesman Mark Williams said: "We will look at this case and examine Ms Golde's claims.

"We sought medical advice to try to establish her age."

Ms Golde's solicitor, Tony Paterson, said: "I have been asked by her not to say anything about her case."