Man charged with arson after fire at Penkridge hotel used to house asylum seekers
A man has been charged over causing a blaze at a hotel used to house asylum seekers.
Emergency services rushed to the scene of the blaze at Hatherton Hotel Stafford South on Pinfold Lane, Penkridge, at around 7.06pm on Saturday.
The hotel was evacuated as around 30 firefighters worked to tackle the blaze which was successfully extinguished by 10.24pm.
Staffordshire Police said on Sunday that the fire had broken out in one room on the ground floor of the building. Nobody was injured.
Samsom Teklematiam, 23, who resides at the hotel, has since been charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
He appeared before Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court on Monday and has been remanded in custody ahead of a plea hearing at Stafford Crown Court on January 5.
