LONDON (Reuters) -An Ethiopian asylum seeker, whose arrest in July sparked angry protests outside the hotel near London where he and other migrants were being housed, was jailed for 12 months on Tuesday for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and another woman.
The protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, about 20 miles (30 km) north of the British capital, became a touchpaper for a string of country-wide demonstrations amid rising tensions over immigration.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was convicted at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court earlier this month of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman, attempting to sexually assault the girl, inciting her to engage in sexual activity and one count of harassment.
Kebatu had acknowledged that he was aware of the unrest his actions had caused and that other law-abiding asylum seekers had been impacted by it, Judge Christopher Williams told him.
“You could not have anticipated that your offending behaviour … would have caused such a response from the public, particularly in Epping, but also across the UK, resulting in mass demonstrations from a fear that children within the UK are not safe,” the judge said.
Immigration has become the dominant political issue in Britain, eclipsing concerns over a faltering economy, as the country faces both a record number of asylum claims and arrivals by migrants in small boats across the Channel.
Kebatu, who had arrived in Britain on a small boat and only moved to the Bell Hotel about a week before the incident, had denied all the accusations, saying he was “not a wild animal”.
Opposition lawmakers said Kebatu should be deported as soon as he is released from jail.
“Towns like Epping should never have been put in this position,” said Chris Philp, the Conservative home affairs spokesperson. “Illegal immigrants should not be housed in hotels, they should be deported.”
Just over 32,000 migrants are housed in hotels across the country, according to figures up to the end of June. The government plans to stop the practice by the next election, due in 2029.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by William James)
