South Yorkshire PoliceA man who tried to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for nine years, the joint longest jail term for Britain’s summer riots.
Levi Fishlock smashed windows and set fire to the Holiday Inn Express in The Manors, Rotherham, during the disturbance on August 4.
Fishlock, 31, of Sheffield Road, Barnsley, initially denied violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life but later admitted the charges.
Jailing him, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, the Recorder of Sheffield, said: “This is one of the worst of its kind for the depravity of Rotherham.”
‘good reason’
A sentence of fishlock, including a five-year license period after release from prison. Like Thomas Burleywho was also part of a 400-strong mob, some of whom tried to set fire to a hotel in South Yorkshire.
The mass unrest saw more than 60 police officers injured as rioters, many armed, surrounded the hotel.
During the violence, security personnel and people inside the hotel were told by police to hide in bedrooms and lock doors for their own safety.
The two-day sentencing hearing at Sheffield Crown Court was told Fishlock was wearing a “very recognizable” purple T-shirt when he smashed the windows of the hotel by throwing bricks and broken paving slabs.
Fishlock told the arresting officers that throwing the missiles and starting the fire was for a “good cause” despite nearly 200 refugees and hotel staff trapped in the besieged building.
He also used fencing slots and metal poles “as weapons against officers” and was seen “destroying” an air conditioning unit outside the hotel.
Fishlock also grabbed a “sharp object” while making threatening gestures at people in the hotel, as well as setting fire to makeshift barriers, the court heard.
Alisha Kaye, prosecuting, said: “In his pre-sentence report he said he had just turned up at the incident and had no deliberate intention of going there.
“It’s an amazing coincidence that he’s wearing an England shirt. He’s deliberately taping his England badge. [on footage]”
PA MediaFather-of-one Fishlock had no previous convictions but was reprimanded for violent disorder in 2007 and cautioned for assault occasioning bodily harm in 2010.
Judge Richardson told him: “You were a prominent participant. You played a part in almost every aspect of the racist mob violence on that terrible August day in Rotherham.
“You and many others like you intended to spread a hateful message of violence and racism.
“From beginning to end, the poison of racism permeated what happened.”
Bannon-Robinson, mitigating, told the court that Fishlock “developed a problem with drugs at various points in his life” after the death of his brother as a teenager.
He said his client struggled with anxiety and depression and on reflection felt “genuine shame and remorse” for his behavior at Manors.
Fishlock is the 80th person to be sentenced for his part in the trouble in and around the hotel, BBC research shows.
Chris Hartley, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said Fishlock’s prominent role in the riots “terrified hotel residents and staff and caused a significant amount of physical harm”.
He said: “Most experienced police officers described the breakdown as the worst they had ever seen in their careers.
“The violence made them fear for their lives.”
Mr Hartley said the stiff sentence imposed would “serve as a lesson to anyone considering taking part in this type of disorder in the future.”
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