A former soldier has been fined for assaulting a journalist during a protest against asylum seekers staying in a hotel.

Stephen Coulman, 53, of Mousehold Lane, Norwich, had previously admitted pushing a reporter in the back on 24 August.

The protest was against housing asylum seekers at Brook Hotel in Bowthorpe, Norwich.

Judge Matthew Bone, who acknowledged Coulman’s military service and the fact he was receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, fined him £200 and ordered him to pay £50 compensation to the journalist.

The court heard how a journalist from the Eastern Daily Press went to speak to people at the protest when he was pushed by Coulman.

The police then advised the journalist that he was no longer safe to stay at the protest, and he left.

District Judge Bone said Coulman’s actions stopped the reporter from being able to carry out his job.

“When you use any violence at a protest, you run the risk of creating more violence,” he said.

He asked Coulman about his military service and was told the former soldier had served his country during the first Gulf War and lost a family member while serving in Northern Ireland.

The BBC has learned that the the cost of policing the protests in Bowthorpe has been an average of about £56,000 a time.

The hotel, operated by Best Western, is one of many across the UK that are closed to other guests while they house about 32,000 asylum seekers.

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A man who threatened to bomb a hotel housing asylum seekers has been sentenced.

Ben McCormack, 40, of Hudgell Road, Stansted, Essex, was in a pub in Epping on 24 August when witnesses heard him using racist language and swearing.

When asked to leave by staff, he told them he was going to bomb the premises and the nearby Bell Hotel, which has housed asylum seekers.

He was given an 18-month community order at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday.

On the day of the incident, McCormack also carried out a racially motivated assault on a member of the public, said police.

McCormack wrongly believed the stranger was an asylum seeker residing at the hotel and directed obscene, racist and threatening language towards him.

He also punched and pushed the man.

In court, McCormack admitted two offences of making threats to destroy property and one offence of racially aggravated assault.

He must not enter Epping town centre as part of the conditions of his sentence and he must carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Det Con Emma Jackson said: “McCormack’s actions were, by his own admission, shameful.

“Intoxicated, in the middle of the day, he used racist language and made threats in front of pub customers and staff.”

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Police said the 28-year-old acted in an ‘intimidating way, encouraging other people there to face off against our officers’.

A fourth man has been jailed for violent disorder following demonstrations outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Essex Police said Aaron Elles attended a protest outside The Bell Hotel in Epping wearing motorbike clothing, including a crash helmet to conceal his identity on July 17.

The force said the 28-year-old, of Harlow, acted in an “intimidating way, encouraging other people there to face off against our officers”.

He also “kicked an officer which led to other people pushing, shoving, and striking other officers”, police said.

Elles pleaded guilty to violent disorder at an earlier hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court.

He later indicated an intention to vacate his plea and a judge set a trial date next year alongside other defendants, but this was not pursued and he was sentenced on Thursday, Essex Police said.

The force said Elles was jailed at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday for one year and eight months.

Multiple demonstrations have been held outside The Bell Hotel after asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu sexually assaulted a woman and a 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.

Officers, who arrested Elles at his home address on July 23, also found a small amount of cannabis in his motorbike jacket.

He also admitted possession of a Class B drug.

Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow said: “Elles is now the fourth person be sentenced for the actions on the evening of July 17.

“This was an evening in which officers had been trying their utmost to facilitate protest and counter-protest, which is our lawful duty.

“Elles was among a section of people in the crowd who were intent on escalating what had begun as a peaceful protest into violence.”

Three men, Martin Peagram, Dean Smith and Stuart Williams, were each given jail sentences on October 6, having pleaded guilty to violent disorder at earlier hearings.

Peagram, 33, of Loughton, was jailed for two years and two months; Smith, 51, of Epping, for one year and 10 months; and Williams, 36, of Thornwood, Epping, for two years and four months.

Four more men are due to stand trial for violent disorder from March 23 next year, with a further three to stand trial from June 1 at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Evening Standard

Three men who pushed, punched and kicked police officers during protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping have become the first to be jailed for the disorder.

Stuart Williams, 36, Dean Smith, 51, and Martin Peagram, 33, were part of a “peaceful protest that descended into serious public disorder” in the Essex town on 17 July, prosecutors said.

They were “motivated by hostilities” towards asylum seekers being housed at the hotel after one was charged with two sexual assaults, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

Williams was jailed for two years and four months, Peagram for two years and two months and Smith for one year and 10 months. Each defendant admitted violent disorder.

Thousands of people attended anti-immigration protests and counter-demonstrations outside the hotel over summer, requiring a £1.54m policing operation, the court heard.

Hadush Kebatu had been arrested for sexually assaulting both a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, which he was later jailed for.

Judge Jamie Sawyer said the manager of The Bell Hotel received an anonymous phone call on 17 July from a person asking “are you ready for tonight?”.

Protests were planned on social media and attendees were told to “mask up and bring rage”, the judge added, with about 500 people turning up that afternoon.

“Police officers were subject to sustained attacks for four hours” and were punched, pushed and kicked, said prosecutor Graham Carse.

He said police vans were also damaged and constables “pelted with” bottles, eggs and fireworks.

A statement from a senior police officer, read to the court, said: “In my 20 years of policing, I have never witnessed this scale of disorder in Essex – and certainly not in a town like Epping.”

Williams, of Thornwood, Epping, was identified by detectives in footage wearing a Union Jack flag as a cape, the court heard.

Mr Carse said: “That shroud of patriotism did little to hide his thuggish intent.”

Williams “shoulder charged” the police line and adopted an “aggressive, boxer-like stance”, Mr Carse continued.

Egged on by a gathered crowd, he then scaled a nearby school attended by children with special educational needs and disabilities, which suffered damage.

Smith, also from Epping, was seen among a “large group pushing and punching officers” with his face covered.

“He links arms with others at the front, gesturing for the crowd to move forward,” Mr Carse said.

Referencing Peagram, from Loughton, Mr Carse continued: “He appears to be rather enjoying his time outside The Bell Hotel, a smile beaming across his face.

“He pushed and hits out at an officer as the crowd moves forward.”

The prosecutor said businesses had to close during the protest and “worry, disruption and fear” was caused to residents.

He said the defendants were “motivated by hostilities to a racial group or a perceived racial group.”

But Sam Thomas, mitigating for Smith, argued there was “not a racist bone in his body” and that he had “no issue with people coming into this country fleeing persecution”.

He said the 51-year-old had fallen out with friends and family over his views and could lose his job at Waitrose, adding: “There will, no doubt, be an HR meeting after this.”

Kevin Toomey, for Williams, said his conduct was “appalling and disgraceful” but he was motivated by a mantra of “protect our kids”.

Richard Padley, for Peagram, said: “He notes his behaviour as idiotic, immature, embarrassing and pathetic.”

Sentencing the defendants, Judge Sawyer said: “What you did went beyond a protest and became criminal when you acted as you did.”

He continued: “You wished for the asylum seekers to be removed from the area.

“You didn’t wait for due process to run its course, you wanted to take matters into your own hands.”

BBC News

A Clipstone thug who hurled vile racist abuse at one police officer and hideously-scarred another by biting him made both victims consider quitting the force, a court has heard

Robert Harkess was drunk and verbally abusive as officers dealt with “a violent encounter between a number of people” outside the Bowl in Hand pub, on Leeming Street, at 11.45pm on July 25.

Reading the officers’ statements, prosecutor Lucy Woodcock said Harkess had to be restrained and locked in the police riot van, where he began smashing his head against a plastic panel.

When one officer tried to calm him down, Harkess, aged 33, clamped down with his teeth on his forearm, “tightening and biting with more force” and causing excruciating pain.

“I feel sick and angry that another human being has inflicted such a nasty wound on another person,” the officer said. “The job is hard enough without having to deal with a drunk person whose behaviour was like a violent animal.”

He said the attack left him with a “hideous scar” and the fear of blood contamination.

The second officer, who was the most racially-abused police officer in Nottinghamshire in 2023 and 2024, was subjected to “severe” racial abuse from Harkess.

The court heard he grew up locally, served for nine years in the Armed Forces, and previously “held my head high,” but said being compared to a rapist and Harkess’s racist slurs “left me wondering whether I am proud to be British any more.”

“What have people like that ever done to serve anyone other than themselves?” he asked.

“I ultimately believe he is a risk to people of ethnic backgrounds other than white British. There is no possible excuse for what he did.”

The court heard Harkess was convicted of similar offences in 2024.

Morgan Hogarth, mitigating, said Harkess doesn’t usually drink heavily but the alcohol “heightened issues on his mind” surrounding recent rape allegations at Sutton Lawn.

“He has expressed an understanding of how badly he has behaved,” he added.

Harkess, of Vicar’s Court, admitted racially-aggravated harassment, homophobic threats, criminal damage and assaulting an emergency worker when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on July 28.

On Tuesday he received a 12-month community order with 150 hours of unpaid work, a 120-day alcohol abstinence tag and ten rehabilitation days.

The Chad

Police told him to remove the face covering, but he claimed he “couldn’t really hear” the police officers and “the next thing they put me in cuffs”

An engineer who refused to remove his face covering while protesting outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping told police he did not see the problem when “people could wear burkas”.

Joshua Meadows, 18, refused to remove the covering when asked to do so by police during a protest in the Essex town on July 24, Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court was told. Prosecutor Celestia John-Baptiste said Meadows was “seen in a crowd with three other males all dressed in black with face coverings”.

“They were asked to remove the coverings and all did so except for the defendant,” she said. He was wearing a “full face balaclava” and had his “hood up”, she added. The prosecutor said Meadows was arrested and “said he had his face covered as he didn’t want it in the media”.

“He said he didn’t know why he as a white British person couldn’t wear a face covering when people could wear burkas,” she said. She said a quantity of cannabis was also found on him when he was searched, having told officers he “had some weed in his pocket”.

Meadows admitted to failing to remove an item when asked by a constable, “namely a hood and a flag”. He also pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis. The defendant, who represented himself, said he “never had a full face balaclava” but “had my hood up as it was raining”.

He said he “couldn’t really hear” the police officers and “the next thing they put me in cuffs”. Magistrate Shaun Rayner, sentencing Meadows, from Epping, fined him £276 and ordered that he pay costs of £85 and a £110 victim surcharge, with the cannabis confiscated and destroyed.

Multiple demonstrations were held outside The Bell hotel during the summer, after asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie 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 on Tuesday.

Essex Live

A judge warned him that he will “likely” be jailed

A man who admitted violent disorder after a demonstration outside an asylum seeker hotel in Epping has been warned that he will “likely” be jailed.

Martin Peagram pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court to violent disorder outside the Bell Hotel in Epping on July 17.

The 33-year-old, of Loughton, appeared before Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday (September 2) but was told by the judge that he will not be sentenced until next month. Peagram, who wore a dark blue tracksuit and was brought up from the cells to the dock in handcuffs, spoke to confirm his name at the start of the brief hearing.

Judge Jamie Sawyer said that defendants involved in protests outside the Bell Hotel, who had pleaded guilty and whose cases were outstanding, would be sentenced on October 6. He also warned Peagram that he “likely” faces a custodial sentence.

“I’m not in a position to sentence Mr Peagram this morning,” he said. He continued: “If there are defendants who are yet to be committed or sent to this court, the two dates are October 6 for sentence, then secondly September 22 for a further case management hearing.”

Joseph Lord, for Peagram, asked that a pre-sentence report be prepared about the defendant, and the judge agreed to this request. But the judge added: “Mr Peagram must understand the likely sentence will be an immediate prison sentence.”

Addressing Peagram, who had medium-length brown hair and a beard, the judge said: “Mr Peagram, I’ve adjourned your case to October 6. I’ve agreed to the application for a pre-sentence report. I’m not ruling out an immediate prison sentence. The most likely outcome, I’m afraid, is an immediate prison sentence.”

Peagram said “thank you” before he was led back to the cells. The judge remanded him in custody until October 6.

Multiple demonstrations have been held outside the Bell Hotel in Epping since July 13 after an asylum seeker was charged with the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl. His trial began last week and is due to conclude later this week.

Essex Live

A man who kicked a police officer while protesting outside a hotel housing asylum seekers has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Jimmy Hillard, 52, struck the officer with his leg outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, on Friday.

It came hours after a Court of Appeal ruling allowed migrants to continue being housed inside the building.

The carpenter, from Loughton, was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for one year, at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court after admitting assaulting an emergency worker.

He was also ordered to undertake 60 hours of unpaid work and pay the police officer £100 in compensation.

Serena Berry, prosecuting, said Hillard was outside The Bell Hotel at 21:20 BST while a police cordon was in place, and an officer asked him to move.

“This defendant didn’t move,” the prosecutor said, adding an officer then “pushed him away from the officers’ cordon, causing him to fall to the ground”.

“While on the ground he’s kicked out at [the officer],” Ms Berry said, telling the court “no injury was sustained”.

‘Difficult and hostile’

Thousands of people have attended anti-immigration protests and counter-demonstrations outside The Bell Hotel since July.

It followed an asylum seeker housed there being arrested and subsequently charged with several offences including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.

Hadush Kebatu, who is from Ethiopia, denies the offences and has been on trial.

Sentencing Hillard, Judge Christopher Williams said officers had faced “very difficult and hostile” situations at times.

“There’s ongoing disorder surrounding the government’s policy on housing asylum seekers at hotels across the country,” he said.

“The Bell Hotel is at the epicentre of that.”
Protesters marching in a tight group, marshalled by a line of police officers at the front. The protesters are waving England and union jack flags. There are a handful of women and children near the front of the crowd.

Judge Williams said Hillard had been previously sentenced in 2021 for a racially aggravated offence that took place outside the same hotel.

“Given the ongoing disorder at the hotel and across the country, I’ve got to be considering punishment and deterrence,” he added, banning Hillard from the vicinity of the building for six months.

At the same court, Ross Ellis, of Orchard Croft, Harlow, was sentenced for failing to provide a specimen.

Essex Police said a car had been driven towards its officers, on the wrong side of the road, as they maintained a cordon on Friday.

Ellis, 49, was banned from driving for two years and fined £200.

Earlier on Monday, in a separate hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, 23-year-old Charlie Land denied two offences related to events outside The Bell Hotel on 17 July.

The defendant, from Hatfield in Hertfordshire, denied violent disorder and criminally damaging a police van.

He was bailed until a hearing on 22 September.

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