Elarna Garner-Abbey: Rotherham rioter has case adjourned after learning she is pregnant on eve of sentencing

Elarna Garner-Abbey, aged 19, was brought before The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, yesterday (Wednesday, June 11, 2025), to be sentenced for one count of violent disorder, relating to her participation in the riots at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers last August.

Garner-Abbey, of Station Road, Dunscroft, Doncaster, admitted the offence at an earlier plea hearing held in March 2025.

Yesterday’s hearing had to be adjourned, however, after Garner-Abbey’s barrister, Rebecca Tanner, told the court that a home pregnancy test taken by the defendant the previous night revealed she was expecting a baby.

Judge Richardson adjourned Garner-Abbey’s case until Monday afternoon (June 16, 2025), and said he expected her to obtain medical evidence of her pregnancy - along with an addendum to her pre-sentence report - in the interim.

He told her: “I have responsibility to pass sentence upon you for the crime you have committed, and I will conscientiously do that.

“It was hoped that would happen today, but because of this development I am prepared to allow a short adjournment to confirm - or otherwise - the fact of your pregnancy.

“A doctor will do whatever the doctor needs to do to confirm - or otherwise - that news.

“You must co-operate fully with the doctor...you must co-operate fully with the court.”

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“I have not formed any view as to what difference - if any - the fact of your pregnancy, if it is so, makes on sentence.”

Judge Richardson also told Garner-Abbey that if she has any difficulty securing an appointment with a doctor that she must not “sit there doing nothing.”

He instructed her to inform her barrister if she cannot get an appointment, who will contact the court, and if necessary, he will “intervene.”

Tens of thousands of pounds of damage was done to the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers Way, and more than 50 officers were injured when an anti-immigration protest escalated into a riot attended by over 450 people on August 4, 2024.

The Manvers disorder was among last summer’s riots, all of which took place after misinformation was disseminated in the wake of a fatal stabbing in Southport that claimed the lives of three young girls.

The most recent update from South Yorkshire Police, dated June 3, 2025, revealed that a total of110 people have been charged in connection to the violent disorder at Manvers so far.

Of the 110 charged, 91 have been sentenced to a combined total of 223 years in prison.