Eritrean migrant, 26, who drunkenly attacked safety guards at his taxpayer-funded lodge is jailed

An Eritrean migrant who attacked five security guards and a policeman at his taxpayer-funded hotel has been jailed.

Samuel Million, 26, launched the assault after returning to his accommodation drunk in Bournemouth, Dorset in October last year.

Staff attempted to help Million but he reacted angrily and lashed out, threatening to kill them.

He spat at three guards and kicked two others – before then kicking a police officer in the knee.

Four months later Million was arrested again in Birmingham where he threatened to find and shoot the arresting officer, PC Letisha Balentine.

He has now been jailed for 10 weeks by magistrates in Poole, Dorset, but is set to be released immediately as he has already served the time.

The Britannia in Bournemouth is one of three hotels that has been taken over by the Home Office for the exclusive use of asylum seekers.

It has previously been dubbed the most dangerous asylum hotel in Britain due to the number of crimes that have either taken place there or have been linked to it.

In recent months, several migrants who have been housed in the hotel have appeared in court for violent offences.

Halil Dal, a Turkish migrant, was spared jail after drunkenly stabbing a man with a broken bottle.

Shkar Jamal threatened a man with a snooker cue and swung it at the victim who he claimed had insulted his family.

Kurdish migrant Hana Hassan was one of a 12-strong mob armed with machetes who attacked a shopkeeper in the town. He has been jailed for seven years.

The court heard how Million saw his parents murdered in Eritrea and came to the UK in 2023 seeking asylum following the death of his grandmother, who had raised him.

He was staying at the Britannia Hotel on October 14 last year when police were called to a disturbance.

The court heard he had drunk a whole bottle of whisky and had been found unconscious by a friend who took him back to the hotel, which is used by the Home Office to house asylum seekers.

Charles Nightingale, prosecuting, said: ‘The defendant was restrained there by security staff.

‘He said he was going to kill himself, they tried to stop him and he responded with aggression, spitting, which struck three of the individuals.

‘He made threats to kill everyone. The kicking struck Varun Chawla and Ravi Bathani and in the holding cell he kicked PC Honeywell in the knee.

‘Varun Chawla described feeling unsafe and scared, feeling if they hadn’t held him down he would have hurt them. There was a lot of verbal abuse – “f*** you mother f***er” was typical of the words used.

‘[The police officer] told the defendant to sit down. He said instead he swung round towards me and struck my right knee, which caused some discomfort.

‘There was no lasting injury but his view was the defendant thought he could assault police and not face any consequence.’

Mr Nightingale added: ‘On February 26 when he was in Birmingham, he was arrested and PC Letisha Balentine described he was threatening to her and made threats to others.

‘At the custody area he specifically said to her “I’m going to kill you, I will shoot you”.

‘Further threats were made, he said he would find her and kill her.’

The court heard PC Balentine described how Million ‘looked at me in complete disgust’.

She said: ‘I genuinely believed, such was his venom, that he would do all in his power to harm me. I treated him with nothing but fairness and empathy.’

James Diamond, defending, said Million had told him he had been granted leave to remain in the UK for five years, although that had not been confirmed through government channels.

Mr Diamond said: ‘He has significant childhood trauma, seeing his mum and dad murdered as a child. He describes symptoms relating to PTSD.

‘On his way to the UK he was stabbed four times in Calais and was in a coma for one month.

‘He has been moved about – Swindon, London, he was on the Bibby Stockholm at one stage.

‘On the night in question he tried to take his own life. He was found unconscious by one of his friends then taken back to the hotel and was restrained while continuing to attempt to harm himself.

‘He then acted out, kicked and spat. He regrets his behaviour and did not seek to condone or minimise his actions.

‘He acknowledges the impact his actions have had on the victims, he has written letters of apology to the victims.

‘His traumatic events undoubtedly had a significant impact upon him emotionally and psychologically.

‘He had been drinking at that stage but I think the trauma he has suffered will also have impacted his behaviour.’

District Judge Orla Austin said Million had served a long time already.

She told him: ‘I take account of the nature of the incident, the fact you were attempting to self harm, but you spat directly in the face of Prince Bhadani. I am satisfied that was deliberate.

‘It is degrading, disgusting and causes fear of disease transmission.

‘He was trying to help you, he had gone to fetch you a first aid kit.’

She sentenced him to six weeks for the face spitting incident and four weeks to run consecutively for the Birmingham incident.

Judge Austin said: ‘You will be released from prison, probably today, because you have already served that.

‘You will have post-sentence supervision and will have to cooperate with probation so they can monitor you. If you carry on offending, you will end up back in prison.’

She said she would not order compensation, although it was justified, due to Million having ‘no means’.

Million had pleaded guilty to charges of assault and a public order offence at a previous hearing.