UK to seek deportation of Epping hotel migrant jailed for sexual assaults on 14-year-old girl and woman

The Home Office said it will seek to deport Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian national who arrived in Britain days before July’s alleged offences, after he was jailed for 12 months for sexual assaults on a 14-year-old girl and a woman. Kebatu was found guilty of five offences after a three-day trial at Chelmsford and Colchester magistrates’ courts toward the end of August.

In the sentencing hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court, Judge Williams said Kebatu’s behaviour showed a “poor regard you must have for women,” and noted that the defendant had refused to engage with a probation officer. The judge said there was “little known” about Kebatu because he “refused to engage and open up” during assessment, and he warned there was no realistic prospect of rehabilitation. He ruled Kebatu could not be suspended and ordered him to pay £650 in court costs, to be subject to a sexual harm prevention order, and to sign the sex offenders register. Defence counsel Molly Dyas told the court Kebatu wanted to be deported after serving his sentence, a position she said he held before the trial.

The offences are linked to two days of incidents in Epping on July 7 and July 8. Prosecutor Stuart Cowen told the court the defendant sat next to a 14-year-old girl on a bench and, without encouragement, began to make inappropriate comments and said he wanted to have a baby with the girl, even inviting the group back to the Bell Hotel where Kebatu was staying. The girls, all around 14, made clear they did not want his advances. Cowen said Kebatu’s reply was that “age did not matter.” The Crown contends that the first day concluded with his attempts to kiss the girl and his follow-up behaviour the next day.

On July 8, Kebatu again approached the same girl and her friends as they sat on the bench near the Bell Hotel. The court heard the 14-year-old was wearing a school uniform on that day, and Kebatu repeated similar advances. A boy among the group stepped between Kebatu and the girl, and the defendant then tried to persuade the girl to kiss the boy instead; she kissed him on the cheek to deter Kebatu. Prosecutors described Kebatu as appearing sexually aroused during the sequence of events.

The two victims provided impact statements in which the teenage girl said she now checks over her shoulder whenever she goes out with friends and, if she does go out, she changes what she wears so it is not in school uniform. She added that seeing the bench where the offences occurred reminded her of the incident. The woman who was targeted by Kebatu said she was angry and that she felt Kebatu did not understand that what he did was wrong.

The case has drawn attention to housing practices for migrants in Epping, where councillors previously secured an injunction to shut down the Bell Hotel, only for the order to be overturned on appeal. The matter is set to be heard in the High Court next month, as the government continues its policy of removals and deportations to Ethiopia. Police bodycam footage shown at the sentencing proceedings captured Kebatu crying as he was handcuffed, and the court noted he had reportedly attempted to take his own life while on remand.

Judge Williams stressed that Kebatu’s conduct demonstrated a significant risk of reoffending and said the sentence could not be suspended because of the danger he posed to the public. He also noted Kebatu’s limited engagement with authorities and his failure to show genuine remorse beyond expressions tied to the consequences of his actions. As Kebatu begins the process of serving his sentence in custody, the Home Office indicated it will pursue deportation upon completion of his term in prison, consistent with its broader approach to returns to Ethiopia.