Levi Fishlock: Man who fuelled fire outside migrant hotel given joint highest sentence over UK riots so far

A rioter who helped fuel a fire outside a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for nine years.

It is the joint highest sentence handed down so far over nationwide disorder which erupted after three young girls were killed in a mass stabbing at a dance class in Southport on 29 July.

Levi Fishlock, 31, was part of a 400-strong mob that congregated outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, South Yorkshire on 4 August, and a judge said he was "involved in almost every arena of racist criminal conduct that day".

As the violence escalated, Fishlock was seen adding planks of wood to a large burning wheelie bin pushed up against the hotel, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

He also helped build barricades that were set alight, smashed hotel windows by throwing bricks, and destroyed fencing and an air conditioning unit.

He was seen making threatening gestures with a sharp object towards people inside the hotel and he was part of a group who attacked police vehicles with rocks.

The 31-year-old was "very identifiable" because he was wearing a distinctive purple England football shirt with "Bellingham" on the back, the court heard.

Fishlock was sentenced to nine years behind bars, with an extended five-year licence period.

More than 200 asylum seekers were trapped in the upper floors of the hotel as the violence escalated outside. Staff who had barricaded themselves into a panic room feared they would die as they smelt smoke.

The riot left 60 police officers, three horses and a dog injured.

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Fishlock pleaded guilty to violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life. He is the second person to be sentenced for the latter charge.

In September, Thomas Birley, 27, was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to arson with intent to endanger life, violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon for his actions in the South Yorkshire town on that day.

Handing down Fishlock's sentence, Judge Jeremy 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.

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

(c) Sky News 2024: Levi Fishlock: Man who fuelled fire outside migrant hotel given joint highest sente