A 20-year-old man who was captured on video repeatedly charging with riot shields at a police line protecting a hotel housing asylum seekers has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Manufacturing engineer Liam Gray was among the men jailed at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday in connection with the riots outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, which left 58 police officers, three police dogs and a police horse injured.
The unrest on Sunday, August 4, also led to attempts to storm the hotel and set fire to the building.
Gray, of Randerson Drive, Kilnhurst, South Yorkshire, was filmed standing at the front of a large crowd that charged at officers at least three times and tried to grab their shields.
He was also filmed at several points during the afternoon hanging out in crowds outside the hotel as police tried to disperse hundreds of people who had gathered.
Ed Moss, defending him, said: “He’s made the biggest mistake of his 20 years on this planet and he’s going to pay the price for it now.”
Mr Moss said his client wanted to make it clear that “there is not a racist bone in his body”.
But Sheffield registrar, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, replied: “If that’s true, what on earth was he doing?”
Mr Moss said: “That is the unfathomable question.”
He said Gray only went to the scene of the crime because he was curious.
Judge Richardson said: “Almost all the defendants who have appeared before this court, and there have been many, have indicated that curiosity was the reason they went to this episode.”
He said to Gray, “You have brought shame upon yourself. You have brought shame upon your mother and father. You have brought shame upon the city in which you live.”
The same judge heard how Lee Crisp, 42, of Mount Road, Grimethorpe, Barnsley, shouted abuse at police guarding the hotel and continued to do so after his arrest. He told one officer: “You’re protecting the bastards who are raping our children.”
Crisp was sentenced to three years and four months in prison.
Stephanie Hollis, prosecuting, said the defendant shouted at an officer: “Take your f*cking uniform off, I’ll beat the hell out of you” and “You f*cking horrible little prick.”
And he shouted at someone recording the violence: “Sexual bastards. BBC bastards.”
Ms Hollis said factory worker Crisp was celebrating as the group he was with threw projectiles at officers.
Appearing at Sheffield Crown Court earlier this month, Crisp’s lawyer told a district judge his client had been the victim of a mistake when he took his elderly mother for Sunday lunch at the pub next door to the hotel.
Crisp did not raise this defense when he appeared in court on Tuesday.
Judge Richardson said Crisp’s “high octane” insults encouraged the crowd, adding: “You were at the forefront of all of this, in four separate incidents.”
As Crisp was led from the dock, a woman shouted from the public gallery: “Absolute disgrace” and the judge ordered her to be thrown from the courthouse.
David Chadwick, 36, of Furlong Road, Goldthorpe, Barnsley, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison by Judge Richardson. He said he was part of a “violent mob” who attacked a “vastly outnumbered” group of police officers who were pinned against the wall of the Holiday Inn Express.
The judge heard how Chadwick threw a piece of wood at officers and was also present at an incident where a police van containing officers and a dog was violently shaken.
The court heard how Chadwick was filmed twice pouring the contents of a can through the window of the van onto the police driver, who was trying to drive away from the danger area.
Chadwick wrote in a letter to the court: “I have let myself down, I have let my family and friends down, and I have let my entire community down.”
Judge Richardson heard that Chadwick had been drinking nearby and “decided to join in”.
Apprentice bricklayer Alfie Conway, 19, of Park Avenue, South Kirby, Pontefract, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison by Judge Richardson after he was heard throwing projectiles at police protecting the hotel.
The court heard how Conway was arrested after an officer standing behind a riot shield outside the Holiday Inn Express recognised him and shouted that he was going to jail.
Conway admitted Tuesday to violent disorder.
Judge Richardson heard the defendant had a difficult past but had worked hard to secure an apprenticeship.
The judge said: “What possessed him to just throw all that away and throw it at the police officers, one of whom knew exactly who he was?”
He said to Conway, “You have been extremely stupid.”
The judge expressed his condolences to Conway’s grandparents, who watched from the public gallery.
Levi Fishlock, 31, appeared in court on Tuesday accused of being part of a group that pushed a burning garbage bin into the hotel housing asylum seekers, fanning the flames.
He is also accused of throwing missiles at police.
Fishlock, of Sheffield Road, Barnsley, is charged with violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life, but has not entered a plea.
Judge Richardson set the trial for December 2.
The judge said a block of court time had been set aside between early December and Christmas for the expected trials of those accused of taking part in the disturbances at the Manvers Hotel.
Fishlock was remanded in custody until an October 25 hearing.
Jake Turton, 38, from Darfield, Barnsley, is accused of driving a Ford Ranger truck to the Holiday Inn Express, from where they took wood and other rubbish to use as weapons against police.
Turton appeared in court Tuesday but did not enter a plea to charges of violent disorder, taking a vehicle without consent and having no insurance.
Judge Richardson ordered Turton to be remanded in custody until another hearing on October 25. He set a trial date for December 16.