Child sexual abuse probe 'obstructed' by asylum hotel staff

Staff at a hotel for asylum seekers obstructed a police investigation into a report that a man masturbated in front of a seven-year-old child, the BBC has been told.

Officers were blocked from entering the east London hotel and staff delayed providing CCTV - which was later automatically deleted, it is claimed.

The provider - Clearsprings - says it has robust safeguarding processes.

The BBC has also learned of a reported unrelated sex assault in another hotel.

Families of asylum seekers are frequently housed in the same buildings as single men who are also waiting for their applications to be processed.

The BBC has been told that on 30 June 2023 a seven-year-old girl and her mother were reported to have witnessed a 34-year-old man intentionally masturbating in their presence.

It is claimed that staff and security obstructed the police investigation when officers visited the hotel around three weeks after the incident.

The hotel is run by Clearsprings Ready Homes, which has a 10-year contract to manage asylum seeker accommodation in England and Wales.

The BBC has been told that staff refused to provide their own names and told officers they had no rights to enter the hotel without a warrant.

It is also claimed that staff initially blocked officers from entering the building and refused to provide the name of the suspect - which was unknown to the police at that point - and CCTV was also not provided to officers upon request.

When the police were provided with access to footage that may have been relevant - more than a fortnight after the incident - it had been automatically deleted.

The Metropolitan Police says a man has been charged with outraging public decency and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

It said that officers attended the hotel after a report of a man having exposed himself but the alleged victim did not initially wish to support any prosecution.

It added that when officers returned two days later and spoke to the alleged victim and her family, they agreed to provide a statement.

In 2022, in an unrelated incident, a teenage boy was reported to have been raped by a man in his 30s at a different hotel for asylum seekers in east London run by the same company, Clearsprings Ready Homes.

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The BBC has also learned that a male was sexually assaulted at another hotel for asylum seekers in Staffordshire in December 2022.

The local authority declined to provide the person's age or the name of the provider.

The UK now houses about 47,000 asylum seekers in hotels while it processes their applications, at a cost of about £2bn a year. Hotels typically have security guards on site.

In July, the High Court ruled that "routine" housing of unaccompanied child asylum seekers in hotels was unlawful.

The Children's Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, says she has repeatedly raised concerns with the Home Office about such accommodation.

"All children, whether they are with their parents or not, should be living in places where they are safe, protected from harm, and are able to thrive", a spokesperson for the commissioner said.

"We have spoken to too many children and families where that is not happening - this must change."

The Home Office declined to say what vetting and compliance checks are made of safeguarding arrangements at hotels. It said it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing police investigation.

Clearsprings Ready Homes declined to say when it had first been made aware of the alleged incident and wouldn't comment on the conduct of its staff.

In a statement it said: "For obvious reasons we cannot comment on any ongoing investigations but can confirm that we have a robust safeguarding process in place and any issues arising are dealt with promptly by our experienced team."

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