Teenager who threw lit arrows at police protecting Rotherham's Holiday Inn Express jailed

A judge called a teenage father a "dreadful example" to his baby as he was locked up for his role in rioting outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Father-of-one Drew Jarvis, 19, was filmed setting an arrow on fire with a lighter and throwing it at police during trouble outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on Sunday, 4 August.

Footage was shown in court, filmed from inside the hotel, of Jarvis throwing wooden planks at the building, wearing a hoodie and a mask.

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, asked: "What possessed him to turn up?"

Dale Harris, defending, replied: "Probably stupidity."

The judge told Jarvis, who has an eight-month-old baby: "What a dreadful example you are as a father."

Jarvis was among hundreds of people who joined an anti-immigration protest outside the hotel in a wave of trouble across towns and cities following the murders of three girls in Southport.

Windows were smashed, police were attacked and a bin was pushed against the hotel and set on fire during the incident.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Jarvis told police after his arrest that he went to the hotel because it was "just another opportunity to vote, to sort out the hotel, to sort out the people staying within it".

Judge Richardson told him: "The disorder in which you participated was racist in character and extremely frightening for those there, including the innocent occupants of the Holiday Inn hotel.

"This disorder was perpetrated by an ignorant mob. You were part of that mob."

He added: "I repeat, what I have said on other occasions, 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."

Unemployed Jarvis, of no fixed address, but from Barnsley, admitted violent disorder last week.

He was sentenced to three years in a young offenders' institution.

Construction worker jailed

Also sentenced on Tuesday was self-employed construction worker Kaine Hicks, 22.

He admitted hurling abuse at police outside the Holiday Inn Express and pushing against officers’ shields.

Judge Richardson told the court Hicks was “exceptionally aggressive” towards officers.

After watching body-worn camera footage of the incident, Judge Richardson told Hicks, of Wombwell Road, Barnsley: "You were part of a mob of ignorant and violent individuals."

He said Hicks was "pushing and shoving towards the front of the group, hurling abuse at the police officers and behaving in a comprehensively aggressive manner".

The court heard how one officer reported how he had never before experienced such violence and disorder and had been left shocked by the level of hatred aimed at him and his colleagues.

Dale Harris, defending, said his client was ashamed by his conduct as he does not hold far-right views and “does not regard himself as having any racist opinions”.

Hicks was jailed for two years and eight months.

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