'I'm appalled!' Barrister launches furious tirade over 'outrageously lenient' sentence of Epping hotel migrant: 'Laughing all the way to jail'

Mr Kebatu, an asylum seeker from Ethiopia, had arrived in the UK on a small boat and was staying at The Bell Hotel in Epping for a matter of days before committing two counts of sexual assault.

He was sentenced to 12 months by the court after being found guilty of five charges, including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.

Delivering his verdict on the 12-month sentence, Mr Taylor raged: "Frankly, I'm appalled listening to this, I think this is an outrageously lenient sentence which gives all the wrong messages to people who are criminals.

"This man, Mr Kebatu, is a criminal, there's no question in my mind about that. The purpose of sentencing and the purpose of punishment is actually to protect the public against people like this man. And frankly, I think it's a far too lenient sentence."

Backing calls to deport the migrant to Ethiopia, the Barrister added: "He's going to be out quite quickly. My view is if he wants to go back to his country of origin, good riddance.

"He ought to pay some sort of penalty, though, by way of a sentence for what he's done. He's probably got no money, he's got a lack of English and he's got mental health issues, according to what has been said."

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Criticising the current sentencing guidelines in Britain's justice system, Mr Taylor stated: "What we're hearing is exactly what we hear every time in court when it comes to mitigation.

"His mitigation barrister, I'm sure she did a very good job in trying to protect him and lower the tariff as much as possible.

"But we get back to the same problem, and that is that the sentencing guidelines that we have.

"The Sentencing Council are actually far too lenient, and the public expects people like Mr Kebatu to be given a very substantial sentence for what he's done."

Suggesting that Mr Kebatu will be "laughing all the way to jail", the Barrister told GB News: "Clearly, the district judge has had to operate within the confines of the charges against him, but think about the effect that this has had on the two women, the 14-year-old and the adult.

"You've heard from the impact statements how they were very badly affected by this, and I'm concerned that he's probably laughing all the way to the jail now thinking, 'I've got away with this one, I only have to do a little bit of time and then I'm off', and that's not the way to deal with with justice.

"It's not a way to deal with the criminal justice system today, and I'm not happy about it at all."

Highlighting that cases such as Mr Kebatu's are "losing the confidence of the British people", Mr Taylor concluded: "The problem we have is the limits that the Magistrates Court have in terms of the sentencing.

"But when we hear what he's done, it seems to me that perhaps there are a number of other types of offence he might have possibly been convicted of.

"My concern again is with the sentencing guidelines themselves, because I think the Sentencing Guidelines Council is a quango, it's comprised of people who think they know a great deal about sentencing.

"The problem we've got is they're losing the confidence of the British people who think that, in fact, we should be protected from people like this. And he shouldn't even have been here in the first place."

Handing Mr Kebatu the sentence, District Judge Christopher Williams ruled that he would be on the UK sex offenders’ register for ten years, and was also made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

The judge told the 38-year-old his behaviour "really highlights the poor regard you must have for women", adding that he was "feeling sorry for yourself, knowing you were well and truly caught".