Small boat migrant jailed for FIFTH time after causing £10,000 worth of damage during hotel rampage

An Iranian asylum seeker who crossed the Channel illegally via a small boat has been jailed for the fifth time in three years after a destructive hotel rampage.

Farhad Hosnavi, 27, caused more than £10,000 worth of damage through a series of attacks on a Norwich asylum hotel and the city's main police station on Bethel Street.

His most recent conviction came on Monday, almost exactly a year after a judge handed him a year-long sentence and warned he faced removal from the country.

The pattern of reoffending has seen Hosnavi carry out fresh attacks within days or even hours of being released from custody for previous offences.

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The sequence of destruction began in January 2024, when Hosnavi was barred from the Holiday Inn Express Hotel on Drayton High Road, which served as asylum accommodation, after staff discovered him carrying a knife.

He returned to the site in April that year and inflicted damage, resulting in a brief custodial sentence.

Upon release the following month, he returned and smashed windows, earning himself 16 weeks behind bars.

On December 3, 2024, the very day he walked free from prison, Hosnavi returned to the hotel once more and hurled rocks through 14 windows whilst shouting obscenities at police.

The December incident alone caused £5,000 in damage and left hotel staff saying they no longer felt safe due to fears of further attacks.

In May last year, Judge Andrew Shaw imposed a 12-month sentence for the hotel spree. He informed Hosnavi the decision would automatically trigger deportation proceedings – although the ultimate decision lay with the Home Office.

International tensions have made his return to Iran exceptionally difficult, but Hosnavi had previously lived in Germany with a settled status before travelling to Britain.

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The judge acknowledged there were "good political and human rights reasons" preventing removal to Iran amid the ongoing conflict, with court proceedings citing Hosnavi was "begging the Home Office to take him back to Germany."

Despite the deportation warning, he remained in the UK and was not removed from the country.

Following his release from prison, Hosnavi targeted Bethel Street police station on April 28 this year, smashing the automatic doors.

He received an eight-week sentence but was freed on May 26, where just four days later, he returned and damaged the police station entrance again, with the two attacks together costing £5,000.

Appearing in court on Monday, he admitted to the criminal damage he had caused in his latest outburst.

Prosecutor Sarah Fiddy told the court the offence was made worse by his being on licence and his extensive record of similar behaviour.

Hosnavi's defence lawyer, Julie Adams, said: "He is frustrated by the lack of accommodation and homelessness. He had no intention of hurting anyone but just simply wants to go back to prison."

Magistrates sentenced him to eight weeks in prison, overriding the presumption of a suspended sentence as he was considered a danger to the public.

His asylum claim remains under assessment by the Home Office.

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