The Iraqi sheep farmer had set fire to mattresses at both of the asylum seeker hotels
Matt Lee Senior Multimedia Journalist
18:00, 20 Mar 2026
Abdul Rahman was arrested by police outside the Bell Hotel in Epping(Image: CPS)
An asylum seeker has been told he faces a “substantial custodial sentence” after committing arson at two migrant hotels in Essex. Iraqi sheep farmer Abdul Rahman, 37, torched mattresses at the Phoenix and Bell Hotels in Essex, which were both being used exclusively as accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers at the time.
The arsonist showed no visible reaction as jurors convicted him of being reckless as to whether life is endangered for the two incidents. Jurors took less than three hours to convict him of the offences after a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.
His Honour Judge Alexander Mills told Rahman the Probation Service would complete a report so that his level of dangerousness can be assessed. He will be sentenced at the same court next month.
The trial heard that Rahman accepted starting the fires in both of the hotels. He denied intending to damage the wider room or the hotel, or that he intended to endanger life.
An entire wing of the Phoenix Hotel was “consumed and ultimately destroyed,” prosecutors said(Image: CPS)
The first blaze was started at around 9pm on March 28 last year at the Phoenix Hotel in North Weald Bassett. Ten fire engines were involved in tackling the blaze after an entire wing of the hotel was “consumed and ultimately destroyed”, prosecutors said.
Rahman was subsequently moved to a hotel in Reading in Berkshire before returning to Essex and staying at the controversial Bell Hotel in Epping. The second fire eight days later on the morning of April 5 saw a room and part of a corridor damaged.
“The different construction to the Phoenix Hotel limited the spread of the fire [at the Bell Hotel], and it could be stopped before it spread much beyond the room where it started,” prosecutor Mr George Penny said.
Police arrested Rahman at the Bell Hotel on the day of the second fire and he was taken to Harlow police station. At one stage he suggested to officers that ‘ghosts’ could have been involved in the incidents, to which a cop later replied: “I’m afraid we can’t arrest ghosts.”
A picture of mattresses in a room at the Bell Hotel in Epping where a fire occurred last April(Image: CPS)
James Cox, defence, previously told jurors: “Mr Rahman accepts that he started the fires in both hotels and accepts that he intended to set fire to a mattress in his room in both hotels. But he did not intend for the wider room or hotel to be damaged.
“The issue is what was in Mr Rahman’s mind at the time that the fires were set. Whilst he accepts starting the fires, he doesn’t accept that when doing so he intended to endanger life or was reckless about whether life would be endangered.”
After three hours of deliberating before returning their verdicts, Judge Mills said: “You have been found guilty by the jury of arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered at the Phoenix Hotel and Bell Hotel in Epping. Having been found guilty I will sentence you. You will be remanded in custody between now and that date. The Probation Service will write a report about you in the meantime.
“That report will help me to know more about you and most importantly in this case to allow me to assess whether you fulfil the criteria for what’s known as a dangerous offender. Be under no illusions that you face a substantial custodial sentence in relation to this matter.”