THREE asylum seeker riots men have been jailed for longer than the sex assault migrant who they were protesting against outside the controversial Bell Hotel.
Dean Smith, Stuart Williams and Martin Peagram — locked up for six years between them — were the first people to be sentenced for violent disorder outside the asylum seeker hostel in Epping, Essex.
Sex assault migrant Hadush Kebatu was locked up for a yearEssex Police
Stuart Williams was sentenced to two years and four monthsPA
Martin Peagram will spend two years and two months behind barsPA
Dean Smith was jailed for one year and ten monthsPA
They were among around 500 furious locals who descended on the Bell, where Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu was living, on July 17.
Fury erupted after the 41-year-old was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and an adult woman just days after arriving in the UK on a small boat across the English Channel.
Kebatu was locked up for a year last month.
But each of the three protesters were sentenced yesterday to longer jail terms than he received.
Chelmsford crown court heard that police officers were subjected to “sustained attacks for over four hours” as the demonstration turned violent.
Painter and decorator Williams, 36, from Epping, was sentenced to two years and four months after kicking out at an officer and climbing the roof of the hotel.
Peagram, 33, a roofer of Loughton, Essex, will spend two years and two months behind bars for booting a cop, kicking out at other officers and throwing a can at them.
Waitrose worker Smith, 51, also from Epping, was jailed for one year and ten months after punching a police shield and shoving cops.
Judge Jamie Sawyer said he was “satisfied this was racially motivated — at least in part”.
He added: “Each of you, what you did went beyond protest and that became criminal when you acted as you did.”
Luke Fleming, 21, of Buckhurst Hill, Essex, denied violent disorder in a separate hearing and was bailed for trial on March 23.
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