The Bell Hotel needs to be closed, the Tory MP for Epping Forest has said, after the deportation of 41-year-old Hadush Kebatu, the migrant convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the nearby town. Kebatu was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford last week before being arrested in Finsbury Park two days later, and is now in Ethiopia.
However, for Dr Neil Hudson, the problems associated with the Bell, which is still being used to house asylum seekers, remain. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said he was “very relieved” that Kebatu was no longer in the UK – but warned of problems ahead.
Dr Neil Hudson continued: “No one wants to see our home town the lead story on the news, so this is incredibly frustrating and the Government must get a grip.
“I’m very much thinking of the victims and the family, and of the crimes that were committed, a woman and, we must remember, a 14-year-old girl, and this hasn’t gone away from them.”
Asked to sum up his feelings, Dr Hudson said: “This hasn’t gone away for the people of Epping, but relief. But there’s bigger issues that need to be resolved.”
People “have been expressing huge frustration with me” at the situation, he said, adding: “There are significant management and safeguarding issues related to this hotel, and actually, what we need to see is that the hotel needs to be closed.
“This is the wrong hotel in the wrong place, right near the forest, right near two schools.”
The incident has reignited longstanding tensions over the use of the Bell Hotel to accommodate asylum seekers.
In August 2025, Kebatu, who came to the UK illegally across the English Channel and was residing at the hotel while his asylum claim was processed, was convicted at Chelmsford Crown Court of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and an adult woman in separate incidents over two days in Epping.
He was sentenced to an extended prison term but, due to an administrative error in the criminal justice system, was erroneously released early from HMP Chelmsford on October 22.
After a two-day manhunt, he was rearrested in north London and deported to Ethiopia on a flight that landed on October 29.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed the removal.
Kebatu’s crimes sparked immediate outrage in the local community, leading to angry protests outside the Bell Hotel.
Thousands gathered in recent weeks, fuelled by concerns over safeguarding and the hotel’s proximity to schools and Epping Forest. Such protests were part of a broader wave of anti-migrant demonstrations across the UK.
The unrest prompted a series of legal challenges. In late August 2025, Epping Forest District Council obtained an interim High Court injunction to halt the housing of asylum seekers at the Bell, citing public safety risks and planning law breaches.
The Government swiftly appealed, arguing it had a statutory duty to provide such accommodation amid a national backlog of claims, while the hotel’s owner, Somani Hotels, defended the arrangement as a contractual necessity.
On August 29, the Court of Appeal overturned the injunction, allowing asylum seekers to remain at the site and warning that yielding to protests could encourage further lawlessness.
Despite the ruling, other councils have signalled plans to pursue similar actions against asylum hotels nationwide, highlighting ongoing friction between local authorities, central government, and private operators.
