Two men who took part in a riot outside a hotel where asylum seekers where staying in Rotherham have been jailed, following the worst violent disorder the UK has seen in more than a decade.
Nathan Palmer, 29, and Niven Matthewman,19, have both been sentenced to two years and eight months imprisonment for being part of a violent mob that targeted a hotel housing asylum seekers.
At least 422 people in England and Wales have been charged in connection with the violent disorder, with some people facing multiple charges.
It comes as the government confirms emergency measures to ease prison overcrowding in England and Wales.
Palmer, a self-employed tradesman, was said to have “commandeered” a police riot shield and joined the mob, while on licence for drug offences. He was part of a group of hundreds who targeted the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on 4 August.
Sheffield Crown Court heard Palmer’s custodial sentence would have an impact on the end-of-life care of his elderly grandmother, who has dementia and has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
“What possessed you to participate in this crime can only be described as comprehensive stupidity,” Recorder of Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told him.
Matthewman, also part of the same group of protesters, threw a chair at police and yelled “Yorkshire, Yorkshire”, after the hotel was set on fire.
Video footage also showed him draped in an England flag by a police van, which had a police constable, sergeant and police dog inside, being rocked by other rioters.
Mother-of-six Donna Conniff, 40, was sentenced to two years for violent disorder after she threw a brick and a rock at officers during a violent protest in Hartlepool.
She was identified from footage of the protest, which took place in the town on 31 July.
She was seen handing a brick to a child and encouraging him to throw it at the police
“Your behaviour and the behaviour of others around you was truly disgraceful,” Judge Francis Laird KC told her.
She will have to serve up to half of her 24 month sentence in custody before being released on licence.