Factory worker jailed for role in riot at Rotherham asylum seeker hotel

A man who shouted abuse at police guarding a hotel housing asylum seekers and celebrated as missiles were thrown at officers has been jailed for three years and four months, as more people were sentenced for their part in the riots on Tuesday.

Sheffield crown court heard that Lee Crisp, 42, of Mount Road, Barnsley, was part of a group that gathered outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Wath-upon-Dearne, Rotherham .

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said the “high octane” abuse dished out by the factory worker encouraged the crowd, adding: “You were leading the way in all of this, in four separate incidents.”

Several other people alleged to have been involved have been remanded in custody charged with offences linked to the disorder.

Jake Turton, 38, is due to face trial in December. Turton, of Darfield, Barnsley , is accused of driving a pickup truck to rioting outside the hotel.

He is alleged to have driven the Ford Ranger truck to the Holiday Inn Express on 4 August, from which protesters took wood and other debris to use as weapons against the police.

Turton did not enter a plea to the charges of violent disorder, taking a vehicle without consent and having no insurance.

He was remanded in custody and a trial date was set for 16 December.

In Staffordshire , David Jordan was jailed for 28 months after being captured on video outside the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth throwing something – which he claims was an apple core – in the direction of the hotel as he shouted expletives and racist slurs.

The father of four, of Tamworth Road, Tamworth, also messaged a contact on Facebook on 5 August asking them to spread the word that some asylum seekers had been moved to a different hotel.

Jordan pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Stafford crown court. Sentencing him, Judge John Edwards said: “You rightly hung your head in shame as we watched the video. I have looked with care at the footage. You are front and centre of this baying mob for an hour and a half.”

At Bristol crown court, Craig Timbrell, 38, who took part in violent clashes with the police, was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Timbrell threw concrete blocks, bricks and bottles at police near the Mercure hotel, used to house asylum seekers, in the Redcliffe area of the city on 3 August.

Méabh McGee, prosecuting, said: “The situation escalated to the point where there was significant disorder and violence used towards officers, property and opposing groups.”

Also in Bristol, Bradley McCarthy, 34, was jailed for 20 months after being caught on video “threatening” opponents and shouting at the police, including at a police dog.

In London , Alfie Arrowsmith, 28, who yelled “Come on” and “Let’s have it” at police during unrest in Whitehall on 31 July, was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment.

The roofer, who had been working as a traffic manager at the Ritz Hotel on the day of the protest, had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of violent disorder.

He wept in the dock as the footage of him repeatedly confronting police was played to Inner London crown court.

Bradley Halton, 28, of Hounslow, west London, was also sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder.

The tree surgeon was filmed chanting “Who the fuck is Allah” and shouting racist remarks at police officers. Judge Vanessa Baraitser described the defendant’s comments as “racist” and “profoundly offensive”.

She told him: “Those who engage in such violence can expect to receive serious sentences to punish and deter people from taking part in similar behaviour.”

In Northern Ireland, Lennon Ashwood, 22, of Tavanagh Street, Belfast , was charged with 28 offences including riot, arson and assaulting a police officer.

Ashwood has been charged with four counts of riot on four occasions: 15 and 16 July, as well as 3 and 5 August.

Other charges include two counts of throwing petrol bombs, one charge of causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury, another for the attempted grievous bodily harm of a PSNI constable, and several counts of arson.

Disorder flared in the Sandy Row area of Belfast on 3 August, when businesses owned by members of ethnic minority communities were set alight and cars were set on fire.

Ashwood was remanded in custody and is next due to appear in court on 17 September.