Epping has found itself at the centre of a controversy over asylum seekers being housed in hotels in the past week. The Essex town, with a population of about 12,000 and which sits at the end of the Central line on the London Underground network, has seen more 1,000 people take part in two protests.

Anger has been sparked after police have said the cost of policing protests outside a hotel in Essex believed to be housing asylum seekers has reached £100,000.

A town on the outskirts of London was rocked by protesters who descended on a hotel housing asylum seekers for the second time in four days on Sunday night amid anger about a migrant accused of sexual assault.