Rioters jailed for ‘utterly terrifying’ attack on Rotherham asylum hotel

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A father-of-three has been jailed for three years for storming a hotel housing asylum seekers in an “utterly terrifying” attack during riots in Rotherham.

Trevor Lloyd, 49, was part of an angry mob which targeted the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, South Yorkshire.

The hotel was pelted with rocks and debris and rioters tried to set it on fire while asylum seekers were inside in shocking scenes on 4 August.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Lloyd had filmed on his phone as the hotel was breached and then followed a group of men into the building through a smashed-in fire door.

A judge said TikTok footage of the onslaught played to the court was the “worst footage I have seen” as he sentenced Lloyd to three years in prison for violent disorder.

The video showed a crowd breaking into the hotel, bringing items including furniture and fire extinguishers outside and then throwing them at a line of police officers holding riot shields who were forced to retreat by the barrage.

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC – who has already sentenced several people in connection with the Rotherham incident – said staff “would have been terrified” when the mob smashed their way into the hotel building.

“I have seen the footage of what occurred,” he said. “It was frightening and alarming even to watch in the court room. It must have been utterly terrifying for those present, including the police officers.”

Richard Adams, defending, said Lloyd, of Oak Avenue, Rotherham, had gone to the area to go shopping at the Aldi supermarket next to the hotel but “he made the foolish error of deciding to go and have a look” at the disorder.

Glyn Guest, 60, was jailed for two years and eight months for his part in the mob after bodyworn camera footage showed him pulling to the ground a police officer who was defending the hotel.

The footage, shot from behind a female police officer’s riot shield, showed Guest being pushed back five times before he grabs the shield of another officer who he pulls to the floor to cheers from other rioters.

In an impact statement, the female officer said she was “terrified for her safety” during the disorder outside the hotel which left more than 50 police injured.

The officer said it was a “horrific incident of mindless thuggery” and she had encountered nothing like it before in her five and a half years of service.

Judge Richardson told Guest, who admitted to violent disorder at a previous hearing: “You were part of a violent mob and you were playing your part to the full.”

The court heard that Guest’s nose was broken in the incident, to which the judge replied: “He is the author of his own misfortune.”

Stuart Bolton, 38, who drove more than 50 miles to hurl racist abuse at police during the clashes in Rotherham, was also jailed for two years and eight months after he was filmed angrily shouting at police officers protecting the hotel.

The trio are the latest to face jail terms linked to far-right riots which erupted across the country in the wake of the stabbing of three children in Southport on 29 July.

So far 1,024 suspects have been arrested and 575 charged following days of fascist violence across England and Northern Ireland.

Julie Sweeney, 53, was jailed for 15 months at Chester Crown Court after admitting to posting a threatening Facebook message encouraging people to blow up mosques.

Commenting on a photograph on a local Facebook community group showing people cleaning up the aftermath of a riot in Southport, she wrote: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. Don’t protect the mosques. Blow the mosques up with the adults in it.”

When she was arrested, she told officers: “I’m not being rude but there are a lot of people saying it.”

John Keene, defending, said Sweeney lived a “quiet, sheltered life” in Cheshire and had written the post in anger.

However Judge Steven Everett told Sweeney her post, shared on a group with 5,100 members, was a terrible threat.

“So-called keyboard warriors like you must learn to take responsibility for your disgusting and inflammatory language,” he added.

Elsewhere, a man who kicked a female police officer to the ground and joined an attack that left nine cars damaged in Hull was jailed for three years.

Connor Whiteley, 26, admitted violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker after playing a “prominent role” in “racist, hate-fuelled mob violence” in the city on 3 August.

Hull Crown Court heard he was at the front of a group confronting police who were trying to protect a hotel known to house asylum seekers and was seen charging at officers.

Whiteley was also part of a group that targeted a garage, setting cars alight and threatening staff who were forced to lock themselves inside.

Sentencing him on Wednesday, the judge said: “The prosecution do need to look, for those who are playing front and central roles, at the alternative charge of riot rather than violent disorder.”

Violent disorder carries a maximum sentence of five years, and the maximum term for rioting is 10 years, according to sentencing guidelines.