Epping LIVE: Bell Hotel will STILL house migrants in high court bombshell

A sign near the Bell Hotel in Epping was defaced with graffiti resembling St George's Cross, just hours before a High Court judge ruled on an injunction that would have blocked asylum seekers from being housed there if approved. The Bell Hotel became the focal point of several protests and counter-protests in the summer after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Epping in July. Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national who arrived in the UK on a small boat days before the incident, was jailed for 12 months in September.

Today, November 11, High Court judge Mr Justice Mould ruled on whether an Essex council is successful in its bid for an injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed in the hotel. In an 87-page judgment, the judge said: "I have reached the clear conclusion that this is not a case in which it is just and convenient for this court to grant an injunction." Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) was taking legal action against Somani Hotels, which owns the hotel, claiming that accommodating asylum seekers there breaches planning rules. The company opposed the claim, with its barristers telling a hearing in London last month that the move does not constitute a "material change of use". The Home Office intervened in the case and told the court the council's bid is "misconceived".

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