The longest sentences handed out so far over the UK riots
Thomas Birley has been handed the longest jail sentence linked to the outbreak of riots this summer following the Southport stabbing.
More than a month after the unrest that shook towns and cities across the UK, courts are still working through the trials of the people who took part.
Hundreds of people have so far been charged with taking part in the unrest, most of them for crimes of violent disorder. Judges have been issuing heavy prison sentences to those who were involved, despite the capacity crisis in England's prisons.
On Friday, the longest sentence so far was handed out as Thomas Birley, 27, was jailed for nine years for his involvement in the Holiday Inn Express riot in Rotherham. Birley had pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life, violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon.
Here Yahoo News UK looks at some of the longest sentences linked to the rioting.
Hotel staff 'thought they were going to burn to death'
Thomas Birley, of Rotherham, was sentenced after helping fuel a fire outside the hotel that was housing hundreds of asylum seekers and attacking police with missiles during the riot.
He was seen adding wood to a fire in the large industrial bin which had been pushed against an exit and helping place a further bin on top of the one ablaze.
The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, heard how 22 staff in the hotel barricaded themselves into the hotel’s panic room with freezers and “thought they were going to burn to death” as smoke filtered through the building.
A masked Birley was filmed throwing missiles at the police, squaring up to officers while brandishing a police baton and throwing a large bin which crashed into a line of police with riot shields.
The judge said his case was “unquestionably” one of the most serious of the dozens he has dealt with in the last month in relation to the rioting outside the hotel on 4 August.
Birley became the first person to be first person to be sentenced for arson with intent to endanger life following the 12 hours of violence which left 64 police officers injured.
Man forced three Romanian men to flee their car
David Wilkinson, 48, played a “prominent role” in the violence and disorder that gripped Hull on 3 August. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
Hull Crown Court heard Wilkinson was a member of a “baying mob” who left the driver of a BMW in fear for his life when more than 100 “angry” men descended on him and his two cousins.
The group tried to drag them from the car, before punching him in the head and attempting to strike him with a metal bar.
In footage of the incident, the three men in the vehicle could be seen getting out with their hands raised in a gesture of surrender before fleeing to a nearby hotel, the court heard.
At other points during the day of disorder, Wilkinson spat, threw missiles and pushed wheelie bins at a police line protecting a hotel known to house asylum seekers.
He appeared to be holding nunchucks – a martial arts weapon – at one point, it was said.
‘Embarrassed’ rioter was part of group that attacked mosque
Gareth Metcalfe, 44, took part in a violent demonstration outside a mosque in Southport on 30 July. He was said to have "remonstrated" and "pointed and shouted at officers", being described as being "at the front of the action".
Liverpool Crown Court was told Metcalfe was part of a group that caused widespread disorder outside the mosque. The group threw bricks, wheelie bins and slabs of concrete at police officers. The mosque was also damaged and a police vehicle set alight during the disorder.
Simran Garcha, defending Metcalfe, said his involvement was “markedly different to those who threw missiles towards officers and those who caused damage to property”. Garcha added that Metcalfe accepted that he “was at the front of a large crowd and was very much involved in the unrest that followed” and was “extremely embarrassed by his behaviour”.
Metcalfe was jailed for three years and four months on 13 August after admitting participating in violent disorder in his home town when he was identified by police from social media footage.
'Violent racist' punched Black man during far-right demo
A “violent racist” who punched and kicked a Black man in the face during disorder in Manchester was jailed for three years and two months on 15 August.
Joseph Ley, 30, of Stockport, was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court for violent disorder.
Prosecutor Philip Hall said footage obtained by police showed “a Black male being confronted by a group of white males” in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre on 3 August.
Hall said the attack was “motivated by racial hatred” and Ley was the “first to instigate physical violence” against the man, punching and kicking him in the face.
Ley, a father-of-two, was heard on footage saying: “You got a problem with us English, bro?”.
In the footage, members of the crowd can also be heard shouting “kill him” and “stamp on his f****** face”.
Ley was also given a sentence of two months, to run concurrently, for possession of an offensive weapon – an extendable baton – that was found at his home.
In his sentencing remarks, judge John Potter told Ley: “Your actions in Piccadilly Gardens amounted to nothing more or less than mindless violence inspired by your bigoted and racist views. You took a leading role in the attack – being the first person who instigated any violence. You are a violent racist offender who has access to weapons capable of causing very serious harm.”
Father-of-three, 49, joined riot after going to buy dinner
Father-of-three Trevor Lloyd, 49, was jailed for three years after being part of a mob that stormed a hotel in Rotherham.
Lloyd filmed on a phone as the Holiday Inn Express was breached on Sunday 4 August and then followed a group of men in to the building through a smashed-in fire door, a judge at Sheffield Crown Court was told. TikTok footage showed the crowd breaking in to the hotel, bringing items including furniture and fire extinguishers outside and then throwing them at a line of police officers holding riot shields who were forced to retreat by the barrage.
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC – who has already sentenced several people in connection with the Rotherham incident – said this was the “worst footage I have seen”. He told Lloyd the hotel residents and staff “would have been terrified” when the mob smashed their way into the hotel building.
Richard Adams, defending, said his client had gone to the area to go shopping at the Aldi supermarket next to the hotel but “he made the foolish error of deciding to go and have a look” at the disorder. Lloyd, of Oak Avenue, Rotherham, admitted violent disorder at a previous hearing.
Rioter, 26, kicked female police officer to the floor
Drew Jarvis, 26, has been jailed for three years after he kicked a female police officer to the ground and joined an attack on a garage which left nine cars damaged during riots in Hull. Whitely played a “prominent role” in the “racist, hate-fuelled mob violence” that unfolded in the city on 3 August.
Hull Crown Court heard Whiteley was at the front of a group confronting police who were trying to protect a hotel known to house asylum seekers, and was seen charging at officers. The court heard he kicked the shield of a female police officer, forcing her off her feet and leaving her with a minor injury to her arm.
Whiteley was also part of a group that targeted a garage, setting cars alight and shouting threats at staff, who were forced to lock themselves inside.
He pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker.
Teenager threw lit arrows at police officers
Footage shown in Sheffield Crown Court from inside the Holiday Inn Express near Rotherham showed father-of-one Drew Jarvis wearing a hoodie and a mask as he threw wooden planks at the hotel housing asylum seekers.
He was filmed lighting an arrow with a lighter and throwing it at officers during the violent disruption.
The judge told Jarvis that the attack on the hotel was a "racist incident", Yorkshire Live reports, and told the defendant: "What a dreadful example you are as a father."
When the recorder of Sheffield, judge Richardson, asked “what possessed him to turn up” to the riot in Manvers on Sunday, 4 August, Dale Harris, defending, said: “Probably stupidity.”
The 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”.
Unemployed Jarvis, of no fixed abode, but originally from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, admitted violent disorder. He was jailed for three years.
Rioter, 51, insisted he was not racist
John Cann, 51, was jailed for three years over his part in the disorder in Plymouth.
Footage shown to Plymouth Crown Court showed Cann, on a bike, launching a firework or flare towards the counter-protesters during a demonstration on 5 August.
He was also recorded picking up objects from the floor and throwing them. Prosecutor Lewis Aldous told the court that Cann told police he thought the protest would "kick off" because “an immigrant had killed some girls” but insisted he was not racist.
The court was told he had 26 convictions for 170 offences, according to the Plymouth Herald, although his advocates said these were for "largely non-violent" offences. Cann pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Plymouth Magistrates' Court.
'Callous' 58-year-old punched officer in the face
Derek Drummond, who was the first person to be jailed for a violent disorder charge following the riots, was also handed a three-year sentence.
The 58-year-old was part of the disorder in Southport on 30 July. He was one of three men to be jailed at Liverpool Crown Court, alongside Declan Geiran and Liam James Riley who were sentenced to 30 months and 20 months respectively after also admitting violent disorder following riots in Liverpool city centre.
Drummond, of Pool Street, Southport, previously pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker. The court heard bodyworn footage of PC Thomas Ball showed the defendant approach the riot cordon line and say “s***houses, s***houses”.
He was told to go back and Drummond then punched PC Ball in the face. Following a public appeal the defendant handed himself into police and said he was “a fool”.
Referring to the disturbances near to Southport Mosque, judge Andrew Menary KC said: “The genuine and collective grief of the residents of Southport was effectively hijacked by this callous behaviour.”
