Pictured: Sudanese migrant who walked 31 miles through the Channel Tunnel wins asylum and will be allowed to stay in UK

                      

Granted asylym: Sudanese migrant Abdul Haroun is greeted by his lawyer and support workers from a refugee rights group tonight as he leaves Elmley Prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent

A Sudanese migrant who dodged 100mph trains and 400 security cameras during a perilous 31 mile journey through the Channel Tunnel from Calais to Kent has been granted asylum in Britain.

Abdul Rahman Haroun, 40, walked almost the entire length of the crossing before being picked up by police less than a mile from Folkestone on August 4 last year.

He was charged with obstructing a railway under a 19th-century law and told he could face a two-year jail term.

But after being granted refugee status on Christmas Eve Mr Haroun has since been told the Crown Prosecution Service is considering the possibility of dropping the charge against him.

Today Haroun appeared at Canterbury Crown Court via video link and was told he could stay in the UK for two weeks until his next trial date. He was also granted bail and will be staying at a home in Kent in the meantime.

The Sudanese man is alleged to have entered, and traversed as a trespasser, the southbound tunnel, causing obstruction to engines or carriages using the railway.

Human rights campaigners have previously told the New York Times Haroun was forced to flee his rural village near Darfur, in Sudan, after it was attacked by government forces.

                                 

                          

Charge could be dropped: The Sudanese man is alleged to have entered, and traversed as a trespasser, the southbound tunnel, causing obstruction to engines or carriages using the railway

At the time of the interview in October it was said he could not speak English, nor could he read or write Arabic. Campaigners added that he was daunted by the paperwork needed to apply for asylum.

They also said Haroun felt isolated in his cell and did not understand why he was being treated as a criminal.

Haroun, dressed in a grey tack suit, remained impassive after appearing in court today via a CCTV link to Elmley Prison, where he has been held since his arrest.

The proceedings were translated to him through an interpreter but he showed no reaction to the news he was being granted bail.

A worker for the Kent Refugee Help charity is expected to collect him from Elmley today and he will remain at a safe house until the next appearance on January 18.

Dangerous: The 40-year-old walked almost the entire length of the crossing before being picked up by police less than a mile from Folkestone on August 4 last year. This graphic shows how he made the perilous journey

Charge: The Sudanese man is alleged to have entered, and traversed as a trespasser, the southbound tunnel, causing obstruction to engines or carriages using the railway, including those destined for Paris and Brussels

Judge Adele Williams told him his only condition was he report to his local police station once a week. 

Philip Bennetts QC, for the CPS, told the court that the CPS needed the adjournment to decide whether 'in light of the defendant being granted asylum status' to proceed with a trial.

Haroun's barrister Kate Thorne told the judge that if the trial goes ahead there are plans to raise the issue of an abuse of the legal process.

Sudanese migrant Abdul Rahman Haroun was charged with 'obstructing engines or carriages on a railway' under Section 36 of the Malicious Damage Act 1861.

The precise wording of the offence is: 'Whosoever, by any unlawful act, or by any wilful omission or neglect, shall obstruct or cause to be obstructed any engine or carriage using any railway, or shall aid or assist therein, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years.'

But the judge said until a decision was made she wouldn't set a date for any possible trial or legal argument.

Haroun was arrested in August near the south running tunnel - the first incident of its kind. 

The desperate migrant scaled four security fences and dodged 400 surveillance cameras before running in darkness through the tunnel - used by Eurostar trains destined for Paris and Brussels - and was only spotted when he set off an alarm 15 miles into his 'highly dangerous journey'.

He was forced to bear incredibly high temperatures, altered air pressure and roaring noise from trains as he walked along the narrow walkways at either side of the tracks. 

The walkways are designed for emergency evacuation when no trains are running, and he would only have been able to grab a handrail on the tunnel wall to stop himself being dragged under a passing train.

When his presence triggered an alarm at the tunnel's halfway mark, the French sent a test-train equipped with strong lights to find him. 

It failed, however, and he was eventually arrested after being detected on a camera after crossing on to English territory. 

Court appearance: Haroun was charged under the Malicious Damage Act 1861 and told he could face a two-year jail term.  But the Crown Prosecution Service is now considering whether to continue the case (file photo)

Bailed: Haroun appeared at Canterbury Crown Court (pictured) via video link and was told he could stay in the UK for two weeks until his next trial date. He was also granted bail and will be staying at a home in Kent

Haroun was appearing via a CCTV link to Elmley Prison (pictured), where he has been held since his arrest

Eurotunnel has previously warned that anyone trying to walk along the train lines would almost certainly die, with risk from both high-speed trains and potentially fatal electrical currents.

A Eurotunnel spokesman added: 'This type of criminal intrusion into the tunnel is extremely rare, as well as being both illegal and extremely dangerous. 

'Trains travel through there from England at up to 100mph, and he could easily have been struck. Usually migrants climb aboard Shuttle trains or lorries, not run all the way through the tunnel.'

At the time MPs described security at the tunnel entrance in Calais as 'very disturbing'.

A source close to Eurotunnel said the company was dealing with up to 1,000 'migrant incursions' a day.

He added: 'Most are apprehended before they enter the tunnel and they don't get far if they make it inside. The French don't prosecute, however.' 

Two more people are now facing similar charges.