LONDON: An Ethiopian asylum seeker, whose arrest in July sparked angry protests outside the hotel near London where he and other migrants were being housed, was jailed for 12 months on Tuesday for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and another woman. The protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, about 30km north of the British capital, became a touchpaper for a string of country-wide demonstrations amid rising tensions over immigration.

Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, who arrived in the UK on a small boat days before the incidents, was found guilty of five offences following a three-day trial.

Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu, 41, tried to kiss a schoolgirl before groping a woman who came to her aid. It sparked a huge anti-migrant demonstration in Epping, Essex.