Sharan Hotel rioter gets nine years in jail

A man who tried to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for nine years, the joint-longest jail sentence in connection with the summer riots in Britain.

Levi Fishlock broke windows at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham during the disorder on 4 August and set fire to a burning compartment.

Fishlock, 31, of Sheffield Road, Barnsley, initially denied violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life, but later pleaded guilty to the charges.

Jailing him, the Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson Casey, said: “This is one of the worst cases of its kind arising from the Rotherham disorder.”

Fishlock sentence, which includes a five-year license period after release from prison Like Thomas BirleyJoe was also part of a mob, some of whom attempted to burn down a hotel in South Yorkshire.

During a two-day hearing at Sheffield Crown Court, the court was told that Fishlock was wearing a “very recognisable” purple T-shirt as he smashed hotel windows by throwing bricks and breaking floor slabs.

Fishlock told the arresting officers that throwing missiles and igniting fires was for a “good cause”, despite approximately 200 asylum seekers and hotel staff being trapped in the besieged building.

They used fencing strips and metal poles “as weapons against officers” and were seen “smashing” an air conditioning unit outside the hotel.

The court heard he was also seen carrying a “sharp object” while making threatening gestures towards people in the hotel.

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