Council's bid to block hotel housing asylum seekers to be heard on Friday
It follows a series of protests in recent weeks outside the hotel, after an asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
PA news agency understands the injunction bid is due to be heard on Friday by Mr Justice Eyre at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, with the case involving the council and Somani Hotels Ltd.
The council said in a statement on Tuesday that it had seen 'unprecedented levels of protest and disruption' in connection with asylum seeker accommodation.
The use by the Home Office of the premises for asylum seekers poses a clear risk of further escalating community tensions already at a high, and the risk of irreparable harm to the local community Chris Whitbread, leader of the council
It continued that it had issued the injunction bid because of the 'clear risk of further escalating community tensions and urgency of the need for the present situation to be brought under control'.
Councillors had voted unanimously last month to call on the Home Office to close the hotel, the council added.
Chris Whitbread, leader of the council, said the situation 'cannot go on' but the Government 'is not listening'.
He said: 'The use by the Home Office of the premises for asylum seekers poses a clear risk of further escalating community tensions already at a high, and the risk of irreparable harm to the local community.
'This will only increase with the start of the new school year.
'In our view, placing asylum seekers in the Bell Hotel is a clear breach of planning permission. It is not in use as a hotel, and it doesn't function as a hotel.
Protesters outside the Bell Hotel in Epping (Yui Mok/PA)
'The establishment of a centre to accommodate asylum seekers in this particular location, in close proximity to five schools, a residential care home, and the shops and amenities of the market town of Epping, is not appropriate in planning terms.'
The protests outside the hotel came after a man who was staying at the hotel, Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with sexual assault.
Kebatu, who is accused of attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl, denies the charges and will stand trial this month.
A second man who resides at the hotel, Syrian national Mohammed Sharwarq, 32, has separately been charged with seven offences.
At a hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, he denied a count of sexual assault after being alleged to have kissed a man on the neck.
He indicated guilty pleas to a further two counts of common assault and four of assault by beating, with all of the offences said to have taken place at the hotel between July 25 and August 12.
He was remanded in custody until a trial at the same court next month.
Six men charged in relation to disorder outside the hotel will also appear in court next week.
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40 minutes ago
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How judges took control of Britain
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BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
What do people in Epping think of the town's migrant hotel?
For weeks now, there have been protests near the Bell Hotel in Epping, which houses single male asylum far this month they have largely been peaceful, but in July some descended into disorder. Riot police were on residential streets; helicopters were whirring over homes at night. Twenty-eight people have been arrested, with police officers injured and vehicles damaged. The protests started after an asylum seeker housed at the hotel was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl. He is in custody awaiting further court where Sir Winston Churchill was MP from 1924 to 1945, is at the end of London Underground's Central line. Its bustling High Street has bakeries, hair salons, cafes and on some of the protest days, it has been a ghost town - with many businesses shutting early. One local councillor described Epping as the epicentre of Britain's anti-migrant protests. What do locals make of it? "They shouldn't be there. They should be gone. "They are causing nothing but trouble in the town," said Debbie was pushing her grandson in a pram on a warm said the asylum seekers should be "kept in a camp until they are processed" and suggested a military base like MDP Wethersfield in north Essex - where hundreds are currently being housed - would be Ellis welcomed the protests."I think it should be happening, I've been to a couple. If we don't stand up for our town no-one else is going to," she said."They shouldn't be left in a population where there's little kids running round, shops where they go shoplifting," she added. Several people alleged asylum seekers have been shoplifting. One store manager who did not want to be named said stealing from their shop was an issue, but they had no idea if the culprits were asylum seekers or not. They did not feel thefts were worse in Epping compared to other crime up to June (the current figures) has remained broadly the same in Epping and Ongar over the past 18 months, with between 261 and 365 crimes reported a month. The figure was slightly higher in some months in 2022-23 according to Essex Police's crime statistics. 'Haven't felt unsafe' For Priyam Atter, out and about with her toddler, it was the protests she was concerned about."I've never had any issues with people who I can see are from that hotel. "I certainly haven't felt unsafe by those people, but I certainly have felt unsafe by the riots that happened in this area."I think it is a stain on Epping." Elsabe Coericius was out shopping. She said "if the hotel is the only place where they can stay they should be allowed".She is a Quaker and said: "I believe in peaceful protest. "I think everybody should be able to share their views and opinions."Epping Forest District Council has been seeking an injunction against the owner of the Bell Hotel to stop it being used to house asylum seekers. Ms Coericius described that move as "a disgrace". But others like Sara and Jan Russell, out for a brisk summer walk, supported the council's High Court action."I'm all for it. I've lived here for over 50 years now. We've never seen anything like this."It's not right, nobody likes it," said Jan Russell added: "It's about time these asylum seekers did just go. "We are such a small town - we can't really afford to have that sort of people walking up and down the street." She said she saw the asylum seekers "just dossing around" in the town. They had not been involved in the protests, but they supported said Sara Russell, not "when people are coming off the Central line from the other side of London and are just pretending to be from the local area". "There's a very small percentage of people who are protesters from Epping town," she said she had "nothing against the legal migrants" but when it came to those arriving by boat across the Channel, her answer was to "put them on Ascension island". Social media 'drums drumming' As she strolled past, another resident, Sue Rosso, heard what they were saying and disagreed."There is this major issue that we have in this country with lots of people coming to seek refuge. "Fundamentally, the hotels, whilst not an ideal option is - as I see it - the only temporary option," she the shoplifting accusations, Ms Rosso said: "There's a lot of drums drumming on the social media and a lot of fake news."In my view those incidents are not true."She said she felt the protests should be in Westminster, not Epping, as it was the government who was placing asylum seekers in the are strong views on the Bell Hotel in Epping and it appeared to be dividing opinion."It's turning neighbour against neighbour," Ms Rosso said. "This was a community based town and I hope it will be that again in the future." Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Telegraph
Two-tier justice is a national disgrace
When Attorney General Richard Hermer told the BBC in June that it was 'disgusting' and 'wrong' to claim that Britain had a two-tier justice system, 'offensive' to the country's 'crown prosecutors' and 'courts', he was attempting to bat away a wave of criticism that sought to make the point that justice in this country is no longer blind. It did not help his point that just a few weeks before, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales had sought to make this implicit bias explicit, suggesting that some offenders should receive more lenient sentences based on their ethnicity. Even this Labour Government felt compelled to pass emergency legislation to block the move. Perhaps the most visible manifestation of two-tier justice is the treatment of Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor jailed after posting on social media that people could 'set fire to all the… hotels full of [asylum seekers] for all I care'. This was a stupid and reprehensible remark, fired into the void of social media with little thought as to its potential consequences. Ms Connolly entered a guilty plea, and was sentenced to 31 months' imprisonment. Had she stood her ground, she might well have walked free. Ricky Jones, a Labour councillor who made a seemingly explicit call for violence – telling a large crowd that they needed to 'cut' the 'throats' of 'disgusting Nazi fascists' and 'get rid of them all' – was cleared by a jury yesterday. There is a clear difference between a guilty plea and a jury decision. The clear disparity in outcomes, however, will further fuel criticism of a system that appears to function very differently for those from the correct part of the political spectrum. And for the cynical, there is the question of the pressure placed on Ms Connolly by the prospect of being held on remand for an extended period. This does not help with the 'community tensions' politicians are at pains to minimise. Nor does it help public acceptance of the justice system when visibly absurd outcomes mount up on a near daily basis. As Robert Jenrick has said in his interview with The Telegraph, the perception that judges 'act politically and bring their own personal politics into their job as a judge' has been immensely damaging. His proposals for tighter checks on appointments and a robust system for removals make a great deal of sense. This is particularly so in comparison with what appears to be the preferred outcome of the Government: for critics to shut up and accept that the legal system produces the right outcomes. Not only does this fail to silence criticism, it serves to further undermine faith in the law. Criticism of Britain's two-tier system will continue for as long as we get two-tier outcomes.
