About 30 people from an island in the Indian Ocean who camped at Gatwick in protest at their treatment by the British authorities have been put up in hotels.

The group, British citizens from Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Archipelago, slept rough at Gatwick for more than three weeks.

They wanted to stay in Crawley, where islanders have already been housed, but encountered problems because they flew into Heathrow and then transferred to Gatwick, which meant they were not eligible for accommodation in Sussex.

But on Friday, a High Court judge ordered West Sussex County Council to house the group until a judicial review into their future had been completed.

A spokeswoman for West Sussex County Council said the authority was told about the decision on Friday afternoon.

She said the initial court order was for 14 days but could be extended. It was not known how long the review was likely to take.

"The council had decided to offer the group an assessment to see what their needs were.

"While this was going on the High Court decided we should offer the group accommodation. On Friday evening they were all put into a hotel in the Crawley area."

The islanders were forced to leave Diego Garcia in the Seventies when it was transformed into a US and British military base and were re-housed in Mauritius. But high unemployment prompted them to fly to Britain.

An earlier group of islanders who landed at Gatwick in April are being put up in a £50-a-night hotel paid for by social services.

The latest arrivals came to Gatwick looking for the same treatment but because the plane which brought them in touched down at Heathrow, West Sussex social services initially refused to pay for them.