A WOMAN has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker outside The Bell Hotel in Epping.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “Officers responded to reports of fireworks being lit at a protest in Epping on the evening of Sunday December 28.

Two women suspected of lighting the fireworks were detained to be searched when an officer was assaulted.

“One woman was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker and now Leah Smith-Galer, 23, of Torrington Gardens in Loughton, has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker and will appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on February 17 2026.

She has been released on bail until that appearance.”