Man who confronted riot police outside Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham jailed

A man who was pictured confronting police during a riot at a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed.

Haulage business owner Ricky Hardman, 41, was photographed squaring up to officers at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on Sunday 4 August.

Jailing him for two years and eight months, a judge told him he was part of an "ignorant mob".

Trouble flared after hundreds of people gathered outside the hotel in a series of anti-immigration protests held in the wake of the murders of three girls in Southport.

Police were attacked, the hotel's windows were smashed and a bin was pushed against the building and set alight during the incident.

Hardman was arrested after a picture of him brandishing a piece of wood was published by the Daily Telegraph, a judge was told on Monday.

Video was played to Sheffield Crown Court showing him as part of a group attacking a police dog van during the violence outside the hotel.

Hardman, of Norfolk Road, Barnsley, could be seen kicking out at the police van, which was being prevented from moving by people lying in front of it.

He could then be seen as part of a group of about six men who violently rocked the vehicle before it managed to drive away.

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told Hardman the “major civil disorder” was “perpetrated by an ignorant mob of which you were a part”.

He went on: “The incident was part of wider national civic unrest fostered by some form of malignancy in society spread by malevolent users of social media.

“There’s no question the disorder was racist in character and extremely frightening for anyone who was there.”

The judge said he could not be sure that Hardman threw the piece of wood he was brandishing at the police but thought he “almost certainly” did.

He said he was at the front of a mob attacking and threatening police, who were “shamefully waving the Union flag”.

The judge said the police officers who protected the hotel against the rioters are “deserving of the highest praise”.

He said: “It must be made clear that those participating in this form of violent disorder will be punished severely by the courts.

“It is the duty of the court to do what it can to protect the public.”

Judge Richardson said the maximum sentence for violent disorder was five years in prison.

He said there were others who were facing sentencing for even more serious involvement in the Rotherham disorder.

The judge was told about a series of defendants due to appear before him in relation to the Rotherham disorder in coming days and how the efficiency with which these cases is being dealt is leading to knock-on inefficiencies in relation to other prosecutions.

He agreed, but said: “Major civil disorder of this kind has to be prioritised.”

Richard Davies, defending, told the judge his client is “ashamed of himself and the impact that it’s going to have on his family”.

He said Hardman did not go to the hotel to get involved with violence but got “carried away”.

Mr Davies said his client agrees that he has “only got himself to blame”.

Hardman, of Norfolk Road, Barnsley, admitted violent disorder last week.

He sat in the dock with one security guard, wearing a black T-shirt and green trousers, and with his family watching from the public gallery.