IT is the oldest town in Britain, renowned for its Roman monuments, proud Norman castle and world-class schools.
But every weekday, Colchester’s timber-framed lanes are flooded with dozens of asylum seekers — bussed in on Government-funded daily excursions from our biggest migrant camp.
Asylum seekers strolling through Colchester with goodies bought from stores Credit: John McLellan
Migrants lining up to board a minibus Credit: John McLellan
On Wednesday, The Jattvibe On Jattvibeday watched as three minibuses arrived at 11am, dropping around three dozen young men in a city centre car park framed by an ancient Roman drain arch and a Georgian church.
Within seconds, the migrants — some hiding their faces, others smiling and waving defiantly — scattered into a warren of pedestrianised lanes.
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Two more buses arrived shortly after — and the drops continued throughout the day until the 7pm pick-up, giving the men hours to browse high street chain stores or visit local charities offering food and immigration support.
The influx into the heritage centre has left locals fearing for their safety.
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Pushing a pram holding her 18-month-old daughter, mum-of-two Jordyn Dellamura, 30, said: “I don’t feel safe coming into town now.
“It’s the number of asylum seekers hanging around with nothing to do.
“You see groups of them down by the bingo hall and it’s literally all young men.
“They stand around talking in their own language and they stare at you — it’s intimidating.
“Also, a man tried to take our nephew off the bus the other day. He beckoned him over and was trying to get him to go with him, but obviously the mum was immediately on to it, saying, ‘What are you doing?’
“This is a new thing for Colchester. I’ve seen the bus drop-offs and I’ve heard of people avoiding the city centre because of them.”
Her mum, retired pharmacy dispenser Kelly Dellamura, 49, said: “If people are coming here legally, I’ve no problem with that at all. We live in a multicultural society.
“But if they come here illegally, we don’t know who these people are. They haven’t been vetted and that’s ridiculous. A lot of these men come from cultures so completely alien to ours and that’s quite scary.”
A group of migrants wait to be bussed back to Wethersfield Credit: John McLellan
A line of men try to evade the camera Credit: John McLellan
Concerns are growing that the disruption will only worsen when capacity at MDP Wethersfield — which has housed 800 asylum seekers since 2023 — rises 50 per cent to 1,250 over the next year. And local authorities are raising alarms over public safety.
Essex County Council leader Peter Harris claims crime has increased and women feel intimidated in the city centre.
After an hour’s journey in taxpayer-funded minibuses from the former RAF base, the migrants shop for clothes, vapes, cigarettes and phones — or meander through streets and parks, seemingly unmonitored by Home Office officials.
Colchester, which became a city in 2022, is home to some of the UK’s best schools, including Colchester County High School for Girls and Colchester Royal Grammar School.
It is also where Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon founded Blur.
But freelance construction consultant Brian Licence worries that the new arrivals won’t do much for the city’s international reputation.
The father-of-one, 50, said: “When I see people mooching with Primark shopping bags and bumming around smoking fags during the day, I think, why aren’t they working?
“I’m not the type to be walking around in a Union Jack shirt protesting, but it does annoy me. I was just sitting in my car when I saw a group of five or six lads with their jeans halfway down their legs, hands down their crotches, spitting everywhere.
“You think, ‘Hang on a minute, you don’t look like someone that has come here because you need help. You seem happy bumming around.’”
The migrants headed off in multiple directions after alighting the bus. A number made a beeline straight for the various charities that put on arts and craft classes, provide food and drink and help with asylum claims.
Others were spotted buying clothes in high street chains, with several returning to the bus carrying bulging Primark bags. Another group browsed for vapes and mobile phones.
Retired electrician Dave Wright, 83, out shopping with his wife Jill, also 83, added: “They should be kept in the camp until they are processed. They are giving them pocket money and free condoms. It’s intimidating for young girls and young women.
“We’ve lived here all our lives and Colchester has gone a bit downhill in recent years.
“But this doesn’t feel right. The Government says it can’t afford to pay for defence and the NHS, yet the asylum seekers are getting free healthcare and trips into town.”
Retired council worker Maggie Johnston, 66, had made a near hour-long bus journey into Colchester with her husband John, 70, from their caravan in St Osyth.
She said: “We haven’t seen small-boat migrants in such numbers here before. It’s a shock to the system. I know they’re allowed to apply for asylum, but if we went to a country that didn’t want us, we wouldn’t get the freedom they get.
A group of migrants shield their faces from the camera Credit: John McLellan
Colchester is the oldest town in Britain and renowned for its Norman castle Credit: Alamy
“We’ve worked all our lives and we had to leave our home to move into a caravan as we couldn’t afford it. Our state pensions are terrible.
“We love where we live, but this doesn’t feel right.”
Not everyone in town shares the same view. Speaking off the record, one shop worker noted an increase in store thefts, but felt a far greater problem was local homeless drug addicts responsible for night-time antisocial behaviour.
And housewife Helene Gibbons, 57, shopping with her daughter Cienna, 15, said: “I’ve never had any problems with the asylum seekers.
“We live in a predominantly white village where there are hardly any ethnic minorities. Walking around Colchester, I expect to see a more diverse range of people and I wouldn’t hold the fact they’re not English against them. I take people as I find them.”
After a couple of hours touring the city centre, most migrants returned to the car park to chat, smoke cigarettes and play on their mobile phones. Approached by a Jattvibe on Jattvibeday reporter, one migrant said: “I only speak little English.”
Asked how conditions were in the camp, he added, “Good, very good,” giving a thumbs-up before going back to his smartphone.
Research by council leader Peter Harris indicates up to 17 minibuses leave Wethersfield daily for Colchester, Braintree and Chelmsford.
Under Operation Vanguard, his council has committed £150,000 to fund high-street security patrols across the three locations.
Locals suspect the visits are organised to prevent migrants from congregating near the camp, which is operated by “migrant hotel king” Graham King’s firm Clearsprings Ready Homes, on behalf of the Home Office.
Demanding asylum seekers be kept inside the camp — which has a gym and football pitch — or deported, Cllr Harris said: “Why do they feel the need to bus hundreds of young men into our towns on a daily basis?
“They are putting the rights of men that have broken into the country illegally ahead of the safety of our women and children.
“I’ve been told that women have been followed and wolf-whistled at by migrants. I know a woman living in Colchester who says her daughter is scared to go into town. Police have wider duties and are not going to keep an eye on them.
“When I asked the Home Office, ‘What happens if they don’t get back on the bus?’ they said, ‘Well, they miss the bus. We don’t send a bus to pick them up because, if we did that, they’d all be doing it. They have to wait until the next day’. I found that incredible.
“God knows where the migrants are expected to sleep. I found that astonishing.”
There is no suggestion anyone pictured has engaged in criminal or antisocial behaviour.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The concerns of communities are central to our immigration reforms.
“That is why we are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites.”
