Judge questions Forte security

LAX security at a Forte hotel was partly to blame for a sexual assault on a guest in her bedroom, a court heard last week.

Dennis Adams, who had stolen room keys after staying at the Forte Posthouse at South Mimms, Hertfordshire, let himself into a room at the hotel last June. The occupant, a woman, was asleep at the time and Mr Adams sexually assaulted her.

The Old Bailey heard that Adams regularly went to the hotel to take drugs. He was arrested after returning to the hotel six weeks later and was found to be in possession of five room keys.

Sentencing him to five years' imprisonment, judge Leonard Gerber said the ease with which Adams had obtained the keys was one of the most "worrying aspects" of the case.

Forte claims it is attempting to install electronic keys, whose codes can be changed daily, in all its hotel rooms. It has introduced them at South Mimms and at its new Posthouse hotel in Colchester.

"We take security matters very seriously and continually review our security operations," said a spokeswoman.

However, some Forte managers do not appear to be getting this message. James Stewart, general manager of Forte's Shakespeare Hotel in Stratford, said he knew of no plans to introduce electronic keys in his hotel.

"We try to keep it as ‘olde worlde' as possible here and proper keys are part of that. Security is not a problem," said Mr Stewart, adding that guests who do not return their keys upon departure are actively chased up.

And Giles Shaw, general manager at the Queen's Hotel, a Forte Grand hotel in Cheltenham, said: "I know of no plans to introduce electronic keys here. They are desirable but not essential."