A nine-year-old child is the youngest unaccompanied migrant to be accommodated in a hotel by Home Office officials after crossing the Channel and arriving in England, a High Court judge has heard.

Mr Justice Johnson was told a “high proportion” of asylum-seekers initially accommodated in hotels are unaccompanied children under 16.

He was given Home Office figures while overseeing a preliminary hearing in a High Court case centred on the use of a hotel to house unaccompanied children, involving the Government department and Brighton and Hove City Council.

The council is challenging a Home Office plan to re-use a hotel in the Brighton area from which migrant children have previously gone missing.

Mr Justice Johnson heard Kent County Council (KCC) and a children’s rights organisation are planning similar legal action relating to the accommodation of unaccompanied migrant children in hotels, the PA reports.

He heard that both Brighton and Kent councils are concerned the placement of unaccompanied migrant children in hotels puts them in a position where they are breaching, or would breach, their legal obligations relating to the care of youngsters.

The judge indicated all three cases might be considered together.

Kent council’s barrister Hugh Southey KC told Mr Justice Johnson: “Some local authorities are trying to do all they can to comply with their obligations.

“They are attempting to accommodate more children than they are obliged to – Kent is one of them.

“Other local authorities are not. They are taking trivial numbers of children.”

Bosses have taken legal action against Home Secretary Suella Braverman and want a judge to rule that the Brighton hotel should not be used.

They say children could be targeted by criminals and abusers.

Mr Justice Johnson was told the Home Office had stopped using the hotel but is planning to use it again.

A trial is expected to take place later this summer.

Mr Justice Johnson asked a barrister leading the Home Office legal team the age of the youngest child to be initially accommodated in a hotel.

Lisa Giovannetti KC told him they had been nine.

Mr Justice Johnson asked: “You have put a nine-year-old child in a hotel?”

Ms Giovannetti indicated the child had been in a hotel for 24 hours before moving to more suitable accommodation.

The judge then asked how many “under 16-year-olds” have been accommodated in a hotel for more than 48 hours.

“Quite a high proportion are under 16,” said Ms Giovannetti. “Maybe 40%.”

Stephanie Harrison KC, representing Brighton council, told the judge: “Children who are under 16 who are not in accommodation that is regulated – it is not only unlawful, it is a criminal offence. That encompasses the gravity of the situation.”