The battle over the Bell hotel: how a year of asylum protests tore apart a pretty, prosperous Essex town

Last summer, a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by an asylum seeker in Epping and this small community was engulfed in protest. Can it recover? When Sherzod* moved to Epping in 2025, he was dreaming of a little garden, long dog walks in the forest and more space to…

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