Asylum seekers can be prosecuted for steering their own dinghies across the English Channel, a High Court judge has ruled.

Lawyers representing four men who were intercepted and brought to Dover in recent months argued that those being rescued at sea and claiming asylum on arrival have not committed an offence, and would have a defence under the Refugee Convention.

But Mr Justice Cavanagh ruled that new laws introduced by the government earlier this year could be used against the men and in a “significant number” of similar cases.

He said a widened offence of “arriving without entry clearance” applied to people who claim asylum immediately.

“The fact that the person is seeking asylum may have an effect on the prosecutorial decision as to whether it is in the public interest to prosecute, but that is a different matter,” the judge told Canterbury Court on Wednesday.

Read more: Independent