A woman has recalled the moment a brazen asylum seeker came into her home to evade police and demanded to use her phone.

Sue Doyle, from Aycliffe, says the man asked to be driven to Manchester after reportedly arriving on a boat at the nearby Shakespeare Beach in Dover.

The 59-year-old says the young asylum seeker was in her house for 30 minutes before she managed to run to a nearby neighbour to ask for help.

Police confirmed yesterday a request to use a phone was made but added no criminal offences had been committed.

However, Mrs Doyle paints a more frightening picture of her ordeal.

She says the asylum seeker entered her home in Old Folkestone Road at about 9.30am on Sunday.

"He walked in through my back door," she said.

"I was sitting in my front room and the next minute, this lad was standing in front of me.

"My son has dark hair and so did this lad so I thought it was him.

"But then I thought, ‘that’s not my son, he’s not tall enough’.

"I didn’t know if he had any weapons so I was trying to keep calm, but he was frantically pacing up and down the front room.

"He put his hand out and said, ‘Phone. Give me phone (sic). Password. Unlock’.

"When he was asking for the phone, he was a bit aggressive but when I handed it to him, he was calmer.

"He didn’t want anything - all he wanted was the phone as he wanted to make contact with some people and to get away from the police."

Mrs Doyle says when the man was given the phone he went upstairs into the front bedroom of the house so he could see the road.

But then he started asking her if she could drive him to Manchester - almost 300 miles away.

When she refused, he told her to take him to London instead.

"I was getting scared but I was trying to keep him calm because I didn’t know how he was going to react," she added.

"I snuck out my front door, ran to my neighbours, called the police and they took him away quickly."

Details of the incident were originally shared on the Aycliffe Residents Forum Facebook group.

Former Ukip and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage shared the post on Twitter with his 1.6 million followers.

Alongside the picture, the former Thanet MP hopeful said: "Two beach landings in Kent today, migrants on the run.

"This Tory party don't care and will do nothing."

The asylum seeker told Mrs Doyle he had arrived on the nearby seafront - which she says was Shakespeare Beach in Dover - and that he was from Romania.

She said: "He was in my house for more than half-an-hour but I didn’t invite him in.

"I’m almost 60 and he frightened the life out of me.

"None of my kids were around at the time and I was alone."

The Home Office says it does not comment on individual cases and individual arrests are police-led.

A spokesperson said: "The global migration crisis is causing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.

"Despite what people have been told by people smugglers, migrants who travel through safe countries to illegally enter the UK will not be allowed to start a new life here.

"Nobody should put their lives at risk by taking dangerous and illegal journeys.

"We will go further and faster to tackle those gaming the system, using every tool at our disposal to deter illegal migration, disrupt the business model of people smugglers and relocate to Rwanda those with no right to be in the UK."

Data released by the Ministry of Defence shows 528 asylum seekers crossed the English Channel and arrived in the UK on Sunday - with a total of 10 boats detected.

Kent Police confirmed today that officers were called at 10.45am to reports "a man had entered an insecure door at a property in Dover and requested to use a phone".

A spokesman added: "He was initially arrested, and then de-arrested at the scene once the circumstances had been established by speaking to both parties. The man was then detained on behalf of immigration officers."

* A KentOnline article published yesterday reported that details in the original Facebook post - which was shared by Nigel Farage - had been debunked, following guidance received by police.

It has since been established the post was accurate, with the original guidance misinterpreted. We are happy to clarify this point and apologise for any distress caused.