A flash protest took place on Wednesday evening outside of Loughton Police in Essex after a wanted man broke into a school near in Essex, near Epping. The man, who had skipped his own court hearing, was arrested after wandering Davenant School property.
Following the incident, a neighbouring school has confirmed it will deploy extra staff for security purposes, and are asking parents to “remain vigilant”.
Footage on social media shows a group of residents gathered outside of the station last night, waving Union Jack flags. The Express has seen an email sent to parents by a school in the Loughton area following the incident. The message, from Roding Valley High School, read: “We are aware that a local school found an intruder on their school site yesterday.
“The person was asked to leave the school site, the police were called and the intruder was briefly detained. This has caused alarm for a number of local families both at the affected school but also in our community.
“Our school site is secure but as an additional measure we will be deploying extra senior staff on duty at key points throughout the day, including the beginning and end of school. We have regular direct communication with Essex police and have requested extra presence as a further precautionary measure.
“In addition to this we will remind all staff to remain vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour. If you have any low level concerns then please report them to us, or in the case of an emergency call the police.”
On Wednesday, an Essex Police spokesperson said: “We were alerted to concerns for the welfare of a man in the grounds of Davenant School, in Loughton, this morning, Wednesday 17 September.”
The authorities said staff saw the man “acting unusually” in a nearby park, before entering the school ground.
They added: “He was arrested for failing to attend and we’ve been in contact with the owning force. The man has subsequently been released on bail. No criminal offences relating to this incident were reported to Essex Police. We are aware of speculation online that this individual resides at The Bell Hotel, and we can confirm this is not the case.”
The man arrested is reportedly an “asylum seeker who sleeps rough outside of Essex”.
According to a new report by The Women’s Safety Initiative (WSI), over 1,500 schools across the UK are within walking distance of a migrant hotel. The study found that 1,539 schools sit within a 20-minute walk of asylum accommodations and 393 are within just 10 minutes.