Teenage boy allegedly raped at hotel housing refugees

A teenage boy was allegedly raped by a man in his 30s at a hotel housing refugees in northeast London, and a separate alleged sexual assault against a child is also said to have taken place at the same facility.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed the force had received reports of both alleged incidents, which are said to have taken place at a hotel in Waltham Forest.

The alleged rape was reported on Wednesday 5 October, the spokesperson told Sky News, and a man was arrested at the scene.

“Officers attended and spoke to the victim, a boy in his teens, and his family,” the spokesperson said. “Specialist support is being provided.

“A man, aged in his 30s, was arrested at the scene and taken into custody.

“He was bailed to return on a date in early January 2023.”

Separately, the Met spokesperson said a male believed to be aged 17 was charged on 11 September with one count of sexual touching of a child under 13, following an alleged incident two days earlier.

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He was bailed and is due to appear at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 9 November.

Both incidents allegedly took place within weeks of each other at a hotel where around 150 children are reportedly being housed with 250 adults.

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy has called for Home Secretary Suella Braverman to resign over the revelations of overcrowding.

“There is nothing patriotic about making children suffer but that is exactly what is happening as a direct result of this home secretary’s failure to get to grips with processing asylum,” she said in the Commons.

In response, Ms Braverman said that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were only being accommodated “in hotels with a maximum occupancy of 353”.

The home secretary added: “What I would just say to her is this, I think it is a fallacy to suggest that we are somehow cutting corners. When I arrived at the Home Office I have been frankly very dismayed and appalled to find that we are spending on average £150 per person, per night to accommodate people in hotels.

“By my standards that is quite a nice hotel and upon my review and closer scrutiny of how that decision-making was taking place, I identified several four-star hotels around the country being procured for this purpose. For me that is not an acceptable use of taxpayers’ money.”

Ms Braverman is visiting Dover today as she continues to get a grip on the chaos in the asylum system amid international criticism over her claim the UK faced an “invasion” of migrants.

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She is under further political pressure over the illegal conditions at the Manston immigration processing centre in Kent, where around 3,500 people are being detained for weeks in a site intended to hold 1,600 for a matter of days.

A Home Office spokeswoman told Sky News: “The number of people arriving in the UK via small boats has reached record levels and continues to put our asylum system under incredible pressure.

“Manston remains resourced and equipped to process migrants securely and we will provide alternative accommodation as soon as possible.

“We urge anyone who is thinking about leaving a safe country and risk their lives at the hands of criminal people smugglers to seriously reconsider. Despite what they have been told, they will not be allowed to start a new life here.”

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