Bell Hotel Epping: Three men jailed for violence outside asylum hotel - and get longer sentences than migrant who sparked disorder
Three men have been jailed for violence outside the asylum hotel, The Bell Hotel in Epping.
The three men were jailed yesterday (Monday 6 October) for their roles in violent disorder outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Essex - including one who climbed onto a roof and rang a bell to encourage the mayhem. The men's sentencing, at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday, was the first for violent disorder outside the Bell Hotel in Epping.
Multiple demonstrations have been held outside the hotel after asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu sexually assaulted a woman and 14-year-old girl in the town. The 38-year-old Ethiopian national, who arrived in the UK on a small boat days before the incidents in July, was jailed for 12 months at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court last month.
Martin Peagram, Dean Smith and Stuart Williams were all in court today to be sentenced, having pleaded guilty to violent disorder at earlier hearings. Prosecutor Gordon Carse said: “This case is about the disorder arising from the high profile protest in Epping outside the Bell Hotel on July 17 this year.”
The protest was the third in a series which are “still ongoing”, he added, with the first two on July 12 and July 13 having been “relatively peaceful”. Williams, 36, who has eight previous convictions, was seen among a group of protesters shoulder charging the police line. Draped in a Union Flag, he was ‘standing aggressively’ and pushing and calling out at officers.
He was later seen at Tower school - a secondary school for learning disabled children - ringing a bell in response to the crowds chants, ‘urging them on’. He was arrested at another protest on July 20.
Judge Jamie Sawyer said the painter and decorator, of Epping, also kicked out at an officer and got onto the roof of a school for children with special needs, he noted. He jailed the defendant for two years and four months.
Roofer Peagram, 33, of Loughton, has 14 previous convictions for 26 offences including weapon offences in 2011 and 2019 and a warning for public order offence in 2008. He was wearing a white t-shirt and black baseball cap during the protest.
The prosecutor said: ‘[He was ] kicking and pushing police officers, gesturing at others to join in and come forward.’ Peagram - who looked upset when the court was told his family, including his disabled daughter, rely on him - was arrested on July 28 at an address in Stansted.
Judge Sawyer jailed him for two years and two months. Smith wore a black hoodie on the day of the protest and was seen punching an officer's shield and pushing and shoving officers.
The Waitrose worker, 51, of Epping, who has a previous caution for common assault, smiled and waved at family in the public gallery as he entered the dock. The judge jailed for one year and ten months. The court heard Smith was an unofficial carer for his 72-year-old mother.
Judge Sawyer told the defendants: '”Each of you - what you did went beyond protest and that became criminal when you acted as you did.” He added he was 'satisfied this was racially motivated at least in part'.