Police refute social media links between car incident and Epping asylum protests
Officers say they are aware of reports, but stressed there was no evidence of any connection.
Police have dismissed social media claims after reports that a man tried to get into a woman’s car in a town at the centre of recent asylum hotel protests.
The woman reported that the suspect tried to open her car door and gesticulated at her on Epping New Road on Tuesday morning, Essex Police said.
He was described as a white man aged between 30 and 40, wearing a navy-blue coat, jeans and a woolly hat.
Officers said they were aware of online reports linking the suspect to the Bell Hotel, but stressed there was no evidence of any connection.
The hotel was at the centre of protests last summer after an asylum seeker housed there was later jailed and deported for sexually assaulting a woman and a 14-year-old girl.
Essex Police said: “Speculation of this kind is not helpful. We are supporting the victim and working hard to apprehend the suspect as quickly as possible.”
Witnesses with any CCTV or dashcam footage were urged to come forward.