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  "path": "/news/migrant-crisis-stop-asylum-seekers-housed-bell-hotel-cost-taxpayers-epping",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-10T17:52:30.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "_last week announced it would challenge the High Court ruling_",
    "During the original case last year",
    "Refugees won't be housed at RAF base in quaint English village after locals protest",
    "A QUARTER of settled non-EU migrants claim Universal Credit",
    "UK opens door to return of paralysed Isis bride in Syria",
    "_Mohammed Sharwarq_",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nA failed legal battle to stop asylum seekers being housed at The Bell Hotel in Epping has cost the council £566,000, it has been revealed.\n\nThe Conservative-led Epping Forest District Council lost its court battle in November, though _last week announced it would challenge the High Court ruling_ that had rejected its attempt.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nDuring the original case last year, Mr Justice Mould dismissed the claim, saying in a judgment that it is \"not a case in which it is just and convenient for this court to grant an injunction\".\n\nBy February 2026, costs and legal fees had reached a whopping £566,000. The figure represents more than 2.5 per cent of the council's 2026/27 financial year budget, the BBC reports.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSomani Hotels Ltd, which owns the establishment, was accused by the council's lawyers of breaching planning laws by housing asylum seekers.\n\nBut as part of the monstrous legal bill, Somani Hotels Ltd was awarded £95,000.\n\nHome Secretary Shabana Mahmood also received £66,000.\n\nAn Epping Forest District Council spokeswoman said it was \"completely unfair\" to award the funds to the Home Secretary, given that it was her policies \"that led to the appalling incidents,\" she said.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"[Legal action] was not taken against the Home Office, despite their wholly unsuitable use of the hotel for asylum seeker accommodation.\n\n\"This was demonstrated by a number of serious offences committed by its occupants last year.\"\n\nThe facility became the centre of multiple heated and intense protests in 2025, after Ethiopian migrant Hadush Kebatu sexually assaulted a woman and a 14-year-old schoolgirl mere days after being housed there.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Refugees won't be housed at RAF base in quaint English village after locals protest\n  * A QUARTER of settled non-EU migrants claim Universal Credit\n  * UK opens door to return of paralysed Isis bride in Syria\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nKebatu was found guilty on two counts of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, inciting a child into sexual activity, and harassment without violence and sentenced to 12 months behind bars. He was ultimately deported back to Ethiopia.\n\nAnother small boat migrant, _Mohammed Sharwarq_, was jailed for 16 weeks after assaulting a cleaner, a head chef and two residents at the same hotel.\n\nOn Thursday, the council continued to grow the enormous bill by challenging the decision. At the Court of Appeal hearing in London, their legal team argued there was a \"compelling reason\" to allow the challenge of the hotel's use to proceed.\n\nThe spokeswoman said the council is continuing to contest this decision \"in the interests of local residents\" of Epping.\n\nWilliam Yarwood, media campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance, told GB News: \"Taxpayers will be furious that more than half a million pounds has been burned in a legal battle that should never have been necessary in the first place.\n\n\"As long as illegal migrants are allowed to remain in the country rather than being detained and deported swiftly, councils will keep being dragged into costly disputes like this.\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"The only way to stop these spiralling bills is to enforce the law, remove those here illegally and end the need for hotel accommodation altogether.\"\n\nJon Whitehouse, leader of the council's Liberal Democrat group, believes the Tory council had been \"reckless\" in its spending, accusing it of throwing money at the courts rather than \"going through the normal planning enforcement process\".\n\n\"This legal action has dragged on for months, cost hard-pressed local residents a fortune, and we still have no clear outcome,\" he said.\n\n\"Even if successful, the taxpayer will be landed with an enormous bill.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Fighting to stop asylum seekers being housed in Bell Hotel cost taxpayers more than £500,000"
}