Rioter handed joint-longest sentence after trying to burn down asylum hotel during summer chaos

12 December 2024, 12:19 | Updated: 12 December 2024, 14:18

A rioter who helped fuel a fire outside a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for nine years - the joint longest sentence passed down so far for the nationwide disorder over the summer.

Levi Fishlock was a key figure in the disorder outside the Holiday Inn Express at Manvers, Rotherham when far-right riots swept the country this summer.

A judge said he "played a part in almost every aspect of the racist mob violence on that terrible day in August".

Sheffield Crown Court heard the 31-year-old was "very identifiable" by his distinctive purple England football shirt with "Bellingham" written on the back.

Shocking footage shared by police showed the callous rioter attempting to burn down the hotel - which housed hundreds of asylum seekers.

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Levi Fishlock seen trying to set fire during Rotherham disorder

The incident was part of wider rioting outside the hotel which left 64 officers, three police dogs and a horse injured.

There were 240 asylum seekers in hotel, which protesters tried to set on fire, and the court has heard how staff barricaded themselves in the kitchen with freezers, fearing they would die.

Fishlock, of Sheffield Road, Barnsley, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life.

As police arrested the 31-year-old, he told them he joined the riot because it was for a "good cause."

Alisha Kaye, prosecuting, said: "In his pre-sentencing report he stated he just came upon the incident and had no intention to go there deliberately.

"It's remarkable coincidence that he was wearing an England shirt. He is deliberately tapping his England badge [on footage]."

His actions were described as "one of the most serious" cases Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC had ever dealt with.

He has been jailed for nine years, which includes a five-year licence period after he is released from jail.

It marks the joint highest sentence given for the summer's right-wing riots, with Thomas Birley, 27, also jailed for nine years in September for his role in the Rotherham violence

Sentencing Fishlock, the judge said he was "involved in almost every arena of racist criminal conduct that day".

Judge Richardson said: "It has been my misfortune, as well as my duty, to have sentenced most of the cases arising from the public disorder in Rotherham.

"This is unquestionably one of the worst of the many cases which have come before this court concerning the events in Rotherham.

"You were involved in almost every arena of racist criminal conduct that day.

"Your conduct, and the conduct of that mob, has cast a dark and ugly stain across the reputation of Rotherham and South Yorkshire."

He added: "You did not start the fire but you added to it and helped fuel the flames. That is as serious as starting it.

"You and many like you were intent on spreading a hateful message of violence and racism.

"From first to last, the venom of racism infected the entirety of what occurred."