UK man sentenced to nine years for arson after far-right riots

Judge says that like the other outbreaks of violence in England in early August, the case was ‘suffused with racism.’

A British man who helped fuel a fire outside a hotel housing more than 200 asylum seekers has been sentenced to nine years in prison, the longest punishment handed down so far to those involved in last month’s wave of far-right riots in the United Kingdom.

At the sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court in northern England on Friday, painter and decorator Thomas Birley pleaded guilty to the charge of arson with the intent to endanger life at the Holiday Inn Express hotel in nearby Rotherham.

Judge Jeremy Richardson told Birley, 27, that his case was “unquestionably” one of the most serious of the dozens he has dealt with in the past month in relation to the rioting outside the hotel on August 4.

He added that like the other outbreaks of violence in England in early August, the case was “suffused with racism”.

The court heard how the masked Birley was involved in many of the worst incidents on that afternoon, including adding wood to the fire in a bin that had been pushed against an exit and helping place a further bin on top of the one ablaze.

Birley was also filmed throwing missiles at the 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 was the first person to be sentenced for arson with intent to endanger life after the 12 hours of violence in the area that injured 64 police officers, three horses and a dog.

Protesters throw a garbage bin on a fire outside the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham, Britain, on August 4, 2024 [Reuters]

“You intended that the occupants of the hotel should come to very serious harm, and you plainly participated in a brutal attack upon the police who were bravely trying to keep order,” Richardson said. “You were a leading participant in an ignorant racist attempt at mob rule.”

The judge heard how 22 staff in the hotel barricaded themselves in its panic room with freezers and “thought they were going to burn to death”.

Eventually, police brought the situation under control, and no one in the hotel was injured.

Richardson also heard how the more than 200 asylum seekers in the hotel were trapped inside by the mob.

The hotel was targeted by about 400 people during days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks after three girls were killed in a stabbing attack at a dance studio in the northern English town of Southport on July 29.

The attack was initially blamed falsely on a Muslim migrant due to online misinformation, and a suspect born in Cardiff, Wales, has since been charged with murder.

A protest in Southport the day after the killings turned violent, and riots spread across the country, leading to about 1,300 arrests and 200 people being jailed.

The longest sentence over the riots until Friday had been six years for violent disorder. Others have been charged with inciting racial or religious hatred online.