Asylum seekers can continue being housed in Bell Hotel after Epping council fails in bid to block them living there

The Bell Hotel in Epping can continue to house asylum seekers, a judge ruled today controversially.

The decision follows months of anti-immigration protests at an Essex hotel, sparked by a resident who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a woman.

Hadush Kebatu, a 41-year-old Ethiopian, was found guilty of multiple sexual assault charges and imprisoned, then mistakenly released, rearrested, and eventually deported.

Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) took legal action against the hotel’s owner, Somani Hotels, claiming it breached planning rules to house asylum seekers there.

Their lawyers said housing the asylum seekers was a ‘material change of use’ and was leading to ‘increasingly regular protests’.

The Home Office intervened in the case, telling the court the council’s proposal had been ‘misunderstood’.

Mr Justice Kalıp rejected the claim today and said in his decision that this was ‘not a case in which it would be fair and appropriate for this court to grant an interim injunction’.

The Conservatives said the court decision that asylum seekers could continue to stay at the Bell Hotel in Essex was a ‘slap in the face of the people of Epping’.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘This is a dark day for local democracy and a slap in the face for the people of Epping.

‘Once again the Labor Government has put the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British citizens.

‘The people of Epping have been silenced in their own town. Their councils fought for them, their voices were ignored.’

Referring to the Home Office’s intervention in the case, he said ‘Labour’s lawyers fought tooth and nail to keep this hotel open’.

Dozens of anti-immigration protests have been held in the region in recent months

Responding to the Shadow Home Secretary’s remarks, a Labor source said: ‘This is Chris Philp’s brass neck.

‘If he wants to understand why there are so many refugees in hotels, I suggest he cast his mind back to his time at the Home Office. He was the one who opened all these hotels.

‘Or perhaps he might ask why Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick is boasting about ‘increasing’ their use. Conservatives opened these hotels. This Labor Government will shut them down.’

The EFDC was granted an interim injunction earlier this year following protests outside the hotel; this would stop 138 refugees being housed there after 12 September.

The council argued that the facility had increased tensions in the region and risked causing ‘irreparable harm’.

However, this decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in August and the decision was found to be ‘seriously flawed in principle’.

The EFDC then sought permanent relief through a three-day hearing last month.

Mr Justice Mold said: ‘I give due respect to the plaintiff’s decision that the current use of the Bell as emergency accommodation for asylum seekers constitutes a material change in the use of those facilities requiring planning permission.

‘However, I am not persuaded that the injunction is a proportionate response to the presumed breach of planning control.

‘The breach is far from obvious. Traditional enforcement methods were not applied.

‘Taken from a broad perspective, the degree of planning and environmental harm resulting from Bell’s current use is limited.

‘The continued need for hotels as an important element of providing accommodation for asylum seekers to enable the Home Secretary to fulfill his legal responsibilities is an important balancing factor.’

The judge said the council’s desire to ‘find a rapid resolution’ to civil unrest and community tensions following protests that began in July was ‘understandable’, but ‘it was not concluded’ that an injunction was appropriate.

Dozens of anti-immigration protests took place in the area after a resident, Hadush Kebatu, was arrested for attacking a 14-year-old girl and a woman.

He continued: ‘Public opposition to land development, even if this opposition manifests itself in street protests, is not, in itself, evidence that the environmental damage caused by such strongly opposed development was intended.

‘The police have a wide range of powers to manage and regulate street protests and maintain public order.’

Mr Justice Mold said Epping Forest District Council had failed to gather evidence to support an argument about the propensity of asylum seekers to commit crimes or engage in anti-social behaviour.

He continued: ‘In my judgment, to begin to assess whether this claim has any force or substance, I would need to see an evidence-based, clear and statistically sound analysis of the relative incidence of criminal and anti-social behavior among asylum seekers as a defined group of persons compared with a suitably defined group of the resident population.

‘There is no such evidence before the court.

‘The fact that people housed in shelters occasionally commit criminal offenses or engage in antisocial behavior pursuant to sections 95 and 98 of the 1999 Act does not constitute a reliable basis for alleging any particular tendency of asylum seekers to engage in criminal or antisocial behaviour.

‘Members of the settled population also occasionally commit crimes and exhibit antisocial behavior.’

A previous hearing was told the Bell Hotel first housed asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021.

Somani’s lawyers said the facility reopened as a hotel for three months in August 2022, but returned to providing accommodation to asylum seekers after seeing demand ‘dramatically reduced’.

The case of former resident Hadush Kebatu has become emblematic of the problems with Britain’s immigration and justice systems.

The 38-year-old man was found guilty of sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity in September and was sentenced to one year in prison.

But he was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford with just a month left on his sentence, sparking a massive manhunt.

After he was re-arrested, he threatened to launch a legal challenge against his deportation and even told the Home Office that he was considering making a new asylum request.

Kebatu was deported only after his deathA ‘discretionary’ payment of £500 will be given by the Home Office in return for going quietly.

Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, and British fraudster Billy Smith were also mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth two weeks ago.

Kaddour-Cherif was arrested last week and Smith, 35, returned to Wandsworth of his own accord.

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to close migrant hotels by the end of Parliament in 2029.

The latest data from June 2025 showed 32,000 migrants were living in hotels, at a cost of £5.5 million per day or £2.1 billion per year.

One way ministers hope to reduce hotel use is by opening accommodation at military bases, of which six are currently being considered for use.

Efforts to remove migrants from asylum seekers are becoming more difficult due to the continuing flow of small boat migrants crossing the Canal.

More than 10,000 small boat migrants have arrived in the UK since Shabana Mahmood became Home Secretary, following 2,000 crossings in just four days.

This grim milestone has been reached faster under Ms Mahmood than under her predecessors since 2022.

621 people came on Thursday, 648 on Friday, 503 on Saturday and 349 on Sunday.

This means 10,072 Channel migrants arrived in the UK in Ms Mahmood’s first 66 days in charge of the Home Office.

17,958 people have arrived across the Channel since Labour’s flagship ‘one in, one out’ return deal with France was announced in July.

Reacting to today’s decision on the Bell Hotel, Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon called on ministers to take a different approach to closing all hotels next year and described plans to house people in military zones as ‘inappropriate, isolating’ and ‘expensive’.

He said: ‘A realistic solution would be for the government to grant temporary permission to stay, subject to strict security checks, to people from countries where we know most asylum applications are successful.

‘This could end the use of expensive asylum hotels next year and the Government can continue to ensure our asylum system works fairly and efficiently. ‘Hotels are not a viable long-term solution for housing people seeking asylum.’

Following the decision, a Home Office spokesman said: ‘We are outraged at the level of illegal immigrants and asylum hotels in this country.

‘This Government will close all asylum hotels. Efforts are underway to move refugees to more suitable accommodation, such as military bases, to relieve pressure on communities across the country.

‘We are trying to do this as quickly as possible as part of a regular, planned and ongoing program. ‘This decision allows us to do that.’