Woman Jailed After Clash Linked to Asylum Seeker Arrest

Witness accounts, police statements and court evidence have revealed a chain of events linking an alleged unlawful entry into a flat near the Britannia Hotel to a later confrontation that ended with a 22-year-old woman in custody and facing multiple criminal charges.

The woman who is accused of attempting to storm a migrant hotel with a meat cleaver has been remanded in custody following a court appearance in east London.

Channay Augustus, 22 (28.10.02) of Byng Street, Tower Hamlets, is charged with possession of an offensive weapon, affray, assault on an emergency worker, common assault and possession of cannabis. She was refused bail by District Judge Jane McIvor at Thames Magistrates’ Court and will remain in custody until her case is heard at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 12 September. She has admitted the cannabis offence but indicated not guilty pleas to all other charges.

The court heard Augustus was part of a group of around 20 people who went to the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf, which is being used to accommodate asylum seekers under Home Office arrangements.

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Prosecutors allege she confronted a security guard before returning with a meat cleaver, striking it against a metal barrier and shouting remarks about asylum seekers. The Metropolitan Police confirmed the alleged victim of the common assault was the hotel’s security guard.

Earlier that day, while cleaning her blind mother’s ground-floor flat a short distance from the hotel, Augustus allegedly discovered a man inside without permission, who she claimed was “moving his hand” over his groin area. The Metropolitan Police state the man, in his early twenties and believed to be an asylum seeker, was later arrested in Hackney on suspicion of common assault in connection with that incident and remains in custody.

The events at the Britannia Hotel follow recent confrontations and protests outside the premises, where opposing groups have clashed amid ongoing tensions over its use to house asylum seekers. Police have previously made arrests during such gatherings, deploying significant numbers of officers to prevent disorder.

The decision to remand Augustus came on the same day a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court acquitted Ricky Jones in an unrelated case, a verdict that, alongside the remand of Augustus, has been cited by some members of the public as evidence of what they perceive to be inconsistent treatment in the justice system.