Rotherham hotel arsonist handed longest sentence yet over UK riots
Thomas Birley was described in court as a 'racist', as Jonathan Brown reports
An arsonist who was involved in "one of the worst" cases of mob violence during last month's riots has been given the longest sentence yet relating to the disorder.
Thomas Birley, 27, fuelled a fire at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, threw a bin at riot police and brandished a police baton during trouble on 4 August.
He was also part of a group which smashed windows at the Holiday Inn Express.
Birley pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life, which can carry a life sentence, and also admitted violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon.
Jailing him for nine years at Sheffield Crown Court, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said: "This case is unquestionably one of the worst of the many cases which have come before this court."
Footage released by South Yorkshire Police shows Thomas Birley's arrest
He said there was a "desire to perpetrate mob rule and commit very serious criminal offences in the process".
“From first to last, the venom of racism infected the entirety of what occurred,” he said.
Birler was among hundreds of people who gathered outside the hotel, where around 200 asylum seekers were staying, in one of a series of anti-immigration protests after the murders of three girls in Southport.
The court was show CCTV of Birley, in a black hooded coat and red mask, putting wood on top of a fire that had been started when a bin was set alight in front of one of the doors of the hotel.
He pulled down his mask to shout abuse at police.
The court heard staff were taken into a panic room and barricaded themselves behind fridges and freezers.
Maintenance manager Paul Coulson said in a statement they were “scared to death” as they could smell smoke.
Prosecutor Alisha Kaye said: “He describes how they thought they were going to burn to death."
Birley's defence barrister, Dermot Hughes, said the former painter and decorator was “appalled” by his actions.
“He expresses heartfelt remorse,” Mr Hughes said.
One asylum seeker who was in the hotel at the time told ITV News: "I'm not sorry for him. I want him to learn lessons for the future. If he had burned the building I would never have seen my mother and father again."
Birley's sentence is three years longer than any other term handed out in connection with the rioting to date.
As well as his prison sentence, Birley will serve an extended period of five years on licence.
Det Ch Insp Andrew Knowles, of South Yorkshire Police, said: "Birley clearly had the intent to cause harm and damage, and cared nothing for the families, staff and police officers in the hotel.
"This sentence does not reverse the physical and psychological damage of that day, but I know it will be welcomed by the hotel workers, residents who were in the hotel, and the officers that were working that day."
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