Mob caused chaos outside migrant hotel, court told

Three men were part of "an aggressive mob" which caused chaos outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, a court has heard.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, in July 2025, after one of the migrants living there was charged with sexual assault.

Keith Silk, 33, from Torrington Drive in Loughton, 47-year-old Jonathan Glover from Springfields in Waltham Abbey, and 24-year-old Charlie Land from Warren Close in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, all deny a single charge of violent disorder.

Footage was played to Chelmsford Crown Court appearing to show the defendants confronting police.

On the first day of their trial, prosecutor Sam Willis said the gathering on 17 July turned violent after between 400 and 500 protesters turned up.

Willis said that police implemented a plan including the use of "reasonable and proportional force".

He said officers also escorted about 50 counter-demonstrators from Epping railway station, to the hotel, "to facilitate the rights of both protests".

But by the time they reached an area near The Tower School, Willis explained, the streets were so full of people that they could not get any further.

As a last resort, police decided to remove the counter-protesters from the area in police vans, Willis said, adding that the original protest group then went back down to the Bell Hotel.

"What had been a peaceful protest had descended into serious public disorder on the streets of Epping," he told the court.

The jury were played video clips from police body-worn cameras, drones and footage filmed by members of the public.

Silk was shown, alongside others, trying to pull the Bell Hotel sign out of the ground. He is also accused by the prosecution of throwing a bottle at a police vehicle.

A hooded man identified as Land appeared to repeatedly kick and hit police vehicles, including smashing one of their windscreens, ripping off wing mirrors and letting air out of their tyres.

The jury was told that Land denies being the man in the footage.

Glover was seen confronting officers in several clips, filming them on his phone and telling them he was there for a "peaceful protest".

Officers were seen trying to remove Glover from the path of their vehicles. In one altercation, Glover is pushed back by an officer with their riot shield, an incident which Willis said resulted in Glover losing two teeth.

Glover - who was arrested when he attended another protest at the hotel three days later - said he had just been there to film it peacefully, and the police were the aggressors.

The trial is expected to last up to three weeks.

Land also denies causing criminal damage to a police vehicle, and Silk denies causing criminal damage towards the Bell Hotel sign.

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