A JUDGE who overturned the Epping migrant hotel ruling has been revealed as the head of a socialist think tank linked to Labour.
Judge Lord Justice Bean and two other Court of Appeal judges ruled yesterday that the injunction banning migrants from the Bell Hotel should be overturned.
Protests were sparked by the Court of Appeal’s ruling[/caption]
The Bell Hotel has been at the centre of a lengthy legal battle for weeks[/caption]
Yesterday’s ruling provoked a strong reaction from protesters[/caption]
It marked a legal victory for the Home Office which was facing down the prospect of rehousing over 100 male migrants as Labour’s asylum plans descended into chaos.
Unrest was triggered across the country yesterday after the ruling to boot migrants out of the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, was overturned.
The controversial ruling was made by Cambridge educated Lord Justice Bean who was chair of the 141-year-old Fabian Society from 1989 to 1990.
The organisation works closely with Labour and its membership is made up mostly of Labour Party members.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper previously served as chair of the Fabian Society’s commission.
The society is an affiliated party organisation.
Lord Justice Bean was also reportedly a member of the Labour party for nearly 30 years before becoming a judge.
He served as a treasurer for the Society of Labour Lawyers, an organisation that described itself as a “think tank and affiliated socialist society which provides legal and policy advice to the Labour Party.”
He also edited a manifesto titled Law Reform for All ahead of Tony Blair’s 1997 general election victory.
The document had contributors including then Labour MPs Jack Straw and Keith Vaz.
It encouraged the party to introduce radical legal reforms.
Another pamphlet edited by the judge includes chapters on topics including incorporating the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) into British law and establishing the Equalities Act.
Lord Justice Bean was a founding member of Matrix Chambers when it was set up in 2000, the Attorney General, Lord Hermer also practised there.
Phillipe Sands, the lawyer who represented Mauritius in the legal battle for the Chagos Islands also worked with Matrix Chambers.
A clash broke out outside the Bell Hotel after the ruling[/caption]
Protesters were outside the hotel for weeks in the lead up to the legal battle[/caption]
Lord Justice Bean has also served as the chairman of the Law Commission from 2015 to 2018.
On the appeal panel alongside the judge sat Lady Justice Nicola Davies, a trailblazer in the legal profession.
She boasts the achievement of becoming the first Welsh female Appeal Court judge and she has held the role of senior co-liaison judge for diversity.
Lord Justice Cobb, the third panel member, has only sat in the Court of Appeal since July 1, having originally been appointed in June 2024.
He was previously a a specialist in family law and has also sat in the Court of Protection.
The ruling made by the three judges marks another turn in the long and controversial story surrounding the Epping Bell Hotel.
Last week, following dozens of protests, Epping Forest District Council won a bid at the High Court to block migrants from being housed at the hotel.
The temporary injunction meant that the building had to be cleared of its occupants by September 12 but has now been overturned by Lord Justice Bean and his colleagues.
An appeal by the Home Office and hotel owners Somani was successful- meaning the migrants can stay where they are for now.
It comes as a ripple effect, caused by the original High Court ruling, has seen local authorities across the country consider launching their own bids to boot migrants out of local hotels.
The controversy was sparked after Hadush Kebatu, who was staying at the hotel, was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Another man who was living at the site, Syrian national Mohammed Sharwarq, has separately been charged with seven offences – including sexual assault.
The Government has won for now – but what happens next?
THE government may have won today’s battle but does it mean they have won the war?
It needs to be remembered that the original order was a temporary one – although it did mean migrants in the Bell Hotel would have to pack up by September 12.
The case was set to return to court in October to lay out the next steps for a potential final injunction.
This would have had a far-reaching impact on councils across Britain had the order become permanent.
But the Court of Appeal’s ruling today may effectively have put an end to the Bell Hotel saga – and even potentially the controversy surrounding migrant hotels, at least from a legal standpoint.
It seems unlikely that other councils will follow through on their own plans to hold the hotel owners – and the government – to account and get migrants in their towns and cities booted out.
Defeated Epping Council today vowed to plough ahead with the October hearing but only if “that’s still possible”.
If the case does not go ahead – or does and they lose again – the ruling could only really change now if Epping launch an appeal bid to the Supreme Court.
However this seems unlikely given the damning nature of today’s decision.
For now, it appears the migrants at the Bell Hotel will be staying put.