Rioter who stoked asylum hotel fire gets nine years

A man who stoked a fire outside a hotel housing more than 200 asylum seekers has been jailed for nine years - the longest sentence passed to date after widespread violence erupted across the UK last month.

Thomas Birley, 27, was seen piling chipboard onto a burning bin outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, South Yorkshire, during rioting on 4 August.

Sheffield Crown Court heard those inside feared they were "going to burn to death", while Judge Jeremy Richardson KC described it as "one of the worst of many cases" he had dealt with.

Birley, of Rowms Lane, Swinton, was jailed after he admitted arson with intent to endanger life, violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon, namely a police baton.

CCTV played to the court showed Birley, dressed in a black puffer jacket and a red face covering, abusing officers as large crowds gathered outside the building.

Prosecutor Alisha Kaye said the painter and decorator was then part of the group that smashed the ground floor window of the hotel.

He was also seen putting chipboard onto a fire that had been started in an industrial-sized waste bin which had been pushed up against a fire door.

During the violence 22 staff in the hotel barricaded themselves into the hotel's panic room while more than 200 asylum seekers were trapped inside the building, despite automated fire alarms telling them to leave.

Passing sentence, Judge Richardson said: "[This was] nothing to do with legitimate public protest. It was mob rule. The venom of racism affected the entirety of what occurred.

"People inside thought they were going to die. The lives of at least 50 people were endangered. They were all mentally scarred and in peril of being killed or injured.

"You were encouraged by malicious and ignorant posts on social media."

Birley was the first person connected with the South Yorkshire disorder to plead guilty to the charge of arson with intent to endanger life.

Describing his involvement, Ms Kaye said: "It was persistent, it was sustained, it was widespread acts of violence to people and property."

The previous highest sentences were handed out to two men who were part of a "baying mob" who attacked a car containing three Romanian men in Hull on 3 August.

David Wilkinson was jailed for six years and John Honey was jailed for four years and eight months.

At Sheffield Crown Court, the judge said Birley would serve nine years in prison with a further five years on licence.

He said a pre-sentence report stated that Birley held views which “raised alarm” with the probation officer and there were hints of a “white supremacist mindset”.

Birley was among a number of people to appear in court on Friday in relation to the violence which erupted in many towns and cities in early August, with about 250 people having been jailed to date.

At Liverpool Crown Court, Connah Ashley Piggott, 25, from Chester, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder.

The court heard that Piggott was captured on video repeatedly throwing bricks towards police officers in Southport on 30 July.

At Snaresbrook Crown Court, suspended Labour councillor Ricky Jones denied encouraging violent disorder in connection with comments at a counter-protest.

It was alleged Mr Jones told a crowd in Walthamstow, London, that far-right demonstrators needed to have their throats cut.

In Nottingham, 81-year-old Keith Edwards pleaded not guilty after being charged following protests in the city centre.

He is believed to be the oldest person to be charged in the wake of the disorder.

Further charges have also continued to be brought by police forces across the country.

In Bristol, Michael Tarling, of Stoke Gifford, became the 33rd person to be charged by Avon and Somerset Police following clashes between protesters and police on 3 August.

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