A POLICE officer handed a chocolate bar to a shivering teenager he arrested on suspicion of entering the UK illegally.

The boy, from Sudan, was spotted alongside the A27 near Chichester in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The east African state has long been beset by war. A continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur has driven two million people from their homes and killed more than 200,000.

PC Steve Taylor, the arresting officer, tweeted: “I detained a very scared, cold and shivering 15-year-old boy from Sudan for entering the country illegally.

“Although there was a language barrier, the heat from the police car and the bar of chocolate I gave him soon put a smile on his face.”

The boy had been seen by lorry drivers sitting in a lay-by at Hambrook shortly before 1am.

He remained in custody on Thursday morning and was due be passed over to the care of social services.