Two White British protesters have been jailed for longer than an African illegal immigrant who sparked their demonstration by sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman.
Jonathan Glover, 47, and Charlie Land, 24, appeared in Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday over their actions during the July 2025 protest outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, one of many across Britain where so-called asylum seekers are housed for free after entering the country illegally, mainly on small boats.
Both were found guilty of violent disorder in June, and Glover was sentenced to two years and six months’ imprisonment while Land got two years and eight months as he was also convicted of criminal damage.
Ethiopian sex offender Hadush Kebatu, whose attacks on women on Epping High Street eight days after his arrival in Britain led to the protest, was last year sentenced to just 12 months in custody, and was deported and given £500 after being mistakenly released from prison.
The court heard that Glover had both front teeth knocked out by a riot police officer during the demonstration, where he shouted at police and “impeded” their vehicles.
Glover told the court he had “reluctantly” attended the protest as a journalist, but Judge Alexander Mills told him he was “nothing of the sort” and accused him of manufacturing events rather than recording them.
“You were not a reporter being picked on by the police, you were not the victim of so-called two-tier justice – you were the antagonist. Far from seeking to calm tensions, you repeatedly inflamed them,” he said in sentencing.
Land was seen damaging police vehicles during the protest, and the court heard he was wearing a face covering, which was banned at the time due to a police dispersal order.
Judge Mills said the mask “contributed to an atmosphere of intimidation”, and called Land a “full and enthusiastic participant in the violent disorder” with “no regard” for the safety of police.
Glover and Land are among nine men to be jailed over the protests, all for longer than Kebatu.
Another man, Keith Silk, 34, was found guilty of the same offences at the same trial and will be sentenced in November, while Phillip Curson, 53, was earlier this month jailed for two years and three months for shoving a police officer and yelling abuse during the protest.
Lee Gower, 43, was jailed for two years and nine months in June, and days later Shaun Thompson, 38, was given two years and seven months.
Stuart Williams, 36, Dean Smith, 51, Martin Peagram, 33, and Aaron Elles, 28, were jailed for two years and four months, one year and 10 months, two years and two months, and one year and eight months in October.
A tenth man, Luke Fleming, 22, was sentenced to one year and nine months, suspended for two years, in June after Judge Mills noted his ADHD reduced his ability to make sensible decisions.
Header image: Left, Hadush Kebatu. Right, Jonathan Glover. (Essex Police).
