A man from Rotherham has been sentenced to nine years in prison, marking the longest sentence handed down so far for the summer riots

06 September 2024 , 13:52

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A judge said Thomas Birley’s case was one of the most serious he had dealt with in relation to the rioting in Rotherham last month. Photograph: South Yorkshire police/PA

Thomas Birley added fuel to bin fire and threw objects at police during unrest outside hotel housing asylum seekers

A Rotherham man has been handed the longest prison sentence so far over the rioting in early August as he was jailed for nine years for his role in violence outside a hotel housing hundreds of asylum seekers.

A judge told Thomas Birley, 27, that his case was “unquestionably” one of the most serious of the dozens he had dealt with in the last month in relation to rioting outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers on 4 August. 

Sheffield crown court heard that Birley, a painter and decorator from Swinton, was involved in many of the worst incidents on that Sunday afternoon, including adding wood to a fire in a large industrial bin that had been pushed against an exit, and helping to place another bin on top of the one ablaze.

Birley was also filmed throwing missiles at police, squaring up to officers while brandishing a police baton and throwing a large bin that crashed into a line of police with riot shields.

He is the first person to be sentenced for arson with intent to endanger life after the 12 hours of violence in Manvers that left 64 police officers, three horses and a dog injured.

The judge Jeremy Richardson KC heard how 22 staff in the hotel barricaded themselves into a panic room using freezers and “thought they were going to burn to death”.

The security minister, Dan Jarvis, said the nine-year sentence sent a strong message. He told Sky News: “Of course sentencing is very much a matter for the courts and a matter for the judge, but it reflects the seriousness of the crime. I think most of us will remember the events of that particular day. I’m a South Yorkshire MP and Rotherham is not far away from my own constituency.

“So the sentence that has been imposed today, I think, reflects the very serious nature of the criminality that we saw on that day and I think it sends a very strong message that that kind of vile behaviour is completely unacceptable, it’s illegal and it won’t be tolerated.”

Sophie Walker