Tycoon who 'ordered rival's death' owns hotel where 76 refugee children vanished
A hotel where 76 child asylum seekers vanished is owned by Nicholas Van Hoogstraten’s family firm.
The notorious tycoon was once branded a “devil” in court.
He was later found to have ordered the killing of an ex-business partner by a judge in a civil case.
Documents show the freehold for the Brighton hotel that gets taxpayers’ cash to house the children is owned by Tombstone Ltd.
Hoogstraten, now known as Nicholas Adolf Von Hessen, quit as a director in 2005. Four of his children are current directors.
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Sussex Police said since the Home Office began using the hotel, 137 unaccompanied youngsters had been reported missing.
76 child asylum seekers disappeared after arriving in the UK (PA)Of those, 60 have been found but 76 have not.
One has been transferred to another force. Hoogstraten, 77, was convicted of manslaughter over the 1999 death of Mohammed Raja and jailed for 10 years. The verdict was quashed on appeal.
The High Court later ruled on the balance of probabilities that Hoogstraten hired two thugs to kill Mr Raja, 62, who was suing him for damages.
He was called a “devil who thinks he is an emissary of Beelzebub” by a judge in 1968 after an attack on a rabbi.
There is no suggestion Hoogstraten or his children have had anything to do with missing children.
The Home Office insisted he has “no formal role in the building”.
In 2020 and 2021, the hotel got 27 reviews as “terrible”, one “poor” and another “average” online.
In 2021, local MP Peter Kyle said: “I don’t see why the Home Office can’t pay foster families money to home the children rather private landlords.”
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