Riots broke out at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers Way, Rotherham on the afternoon of August 4, 2024, after around 750 anti-immigration protesters arrived at the hotel, where asylum seekers were being housed.
The riots formed part of more than a dozen protests held across the country, many of which turned violent. The protests were fuelled by misinformation and followed a shocking knife attack in Southport, Merseyside, in which three young girls were killed.
Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, condemned the actions of those involved in the Rotherham riots. She said: “The criminal, violent attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham is utterly appalling.”
“Deliberately setting fire to a building with people known to be inside.”
“South Yorkshire police have full government support for the strongest action against those responsible.”
South Yorkshire Police confirmed that around 51 officers were injured in violent skirmishes, during which protesters are alleged to have thrown ‘items such as bricks, fence posts, branches and other missiles’ at them.
Sheffield’s courts have heard details of rioters, one of whom rocked a police van - leaving an officer fearing for his life, with another shooting a flaming arrow towards police, and a third having hurled missiles at officers.
18-year-old Kenzie Roughley became the first of the rioters to be jailed, during a Sheffield Crown Court hearing held on Friday, August 9 - just five days after the disorder took place.
Sending him to begin a sentence of two years, four months, The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told him: "There was major civil disorder in the Manvers area of Rotherham. It was part of wider, national civil unrest.
“It was fostered by some form of malignancy in society spread by malevolent users of social media. The disorder was racist in character and extremely frightening for anyone who was there. It was perpetrated by an ignorant mob, of which you were a part."
“You were part of a group desirous of provoking police officers and spreading hate. It was an incident of major public disorder which has badly damaged the reputation of Rotherham and South Yorkshire. It would have – and doubtless did – terrify the ordinary decent citizens of that town.” South Yorkshire Police confirmed today (August 28) that a total of 66 people have now been charged in connection with the disorder, 52 of whom have been convicted after entering guilty pleas.
More rioters are expected to be charged and sentenced in the coming days and weeks.
The force says it is continuing to ‘come after those involved’, warning that rioters still at large ‘will be arrested...will be put in front of a judge and will be punished’.
1. Seven more men enter guilty pleas as number convicted over Rotherham riots reaches 52
The total number of people convicted has now reached 52. The top row features the seven adult defendants who have entered guilty pleas most recently. Top row, left to right: Joshua Webb; Christian Hemus; Scott Kendall; Gareth Lunn; Ben Beardsley; Luke Crowcroft and Thomas Arnold. Second row, left to right: Richard Harrison; Ryan Deering; Sonny Ackerman; Lee Marshall; Charlie Eames; Mason Reddy; Christopher Rodgers; Graham Harper; Regan Urruty Dever and Morgan Hardy. Third row, left to right: Cameron Callear; Thomas Birley; Brad Westerman; Michael Woods; Christian Ivermee; Jamie Philips; Luke Sissons; Michael Shaw and Joshua Simpson. Fourth row, left to right: Luke Merritt; Lewis Lynch; Peter Beard; Jordan Teal; Michael Bailey; David Chadwick; Michael Whitehead; Nathan Palmer; Niven Matthewman and Dylan White. Bottom row, left to right: Elliot Wragg; Peter Lynch; Stuart Bolton; Ricky Hardman; Drew Jarvis; Kaine Hicks; Billy Pemberton; Trevor Lloyd; Glyn Guest and Kenzie Roughley | SYP
2. Paul Sissons: Jailed for three years for violent disorder
Two brothers who were at the front of a mob attacking police officers guarding a hotel housing more than 200 asylum seekers have each been jailed for three years. Luke and Paul Sissons were involved a range of violent incidents outside the Holiday Inn Express, in Manvers, Rotherham , on August 4 , including an attack on a police dog van and violent confrontations with riot officers, Sheffield Crown Court heard on Friday. Paul Sissons - who is a tunnelling team leader on the HS2 project - was filmed over a period of nearly four hours, first in a mob shouting at police and chanting " Tommy Robinson ", a judge was told. Sissons, 37, of Two Gates Way, Barnsley , was then captured as part of a group that violently rocked a police van with officers and a dog inside, and was later seen throwing missiles at a group of cornered officers. Body-worn camera footage from an officer holding a riot shield was also shown to the court of Sissons angrily kicking and pushing at the police line as they tried to push the crowd back. His brother Luke Sissons , 34, of The Green View, Shafton, Barnsley , was also part of the mob rocking the van, and footage was shown of him at the front of group goading officers with riot shields who were pinned against the hotel wall. Video was also shown to the court of Luke Sissons talking to a police officer before the main violence began. He tells the officer he is a "wanker" and then asks him: "Why do you run away from immigrants, but when we do anything you f****** cosh us?" Sissons also tells the officer: "I f****** hate police officers. You're grasses," and: "I f****** hate immigrants." Dermot Hughes , defending both brothers, pointed out that they were both hanging their heads in shame on the videolink as the footage was shown to the judge. He said they are both "thoroughly ashamed of their parts in this". Mr Hughes said Paul Sissons , who shouted that he was not a racist on the prison videolink during the hearing, had had a well-paid job which was now in jeopardy, stressing that he was very well thought-of by his employers. The Sissons brothers are the latest of more than 20 men who have now been jailed at Sheffield Crown Court by Judge Jeremy Richardson KC following the Manvers disorder, which saw 58 police officers, three police dogs and a police horse injured, and involved rioters breaking into the hotel and trying to set the building alight. Judge Richardson said to the brothers: "You were right at the front of the mob attacking those police officers." Referring to the footage of the small group of officers coming under attack against the wall of the hotel, he said: "It never ceases to frighten me, and I have the advantage of watching it days after the event in the security of this court room. "It was a frightening incident and the young officers who were on that cordon must have been terrified by that mob." Both men pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing. | SYP
3. Glyn Guest: Jailed for two years, eight months for admitted violent disorder
Glyn Guest, aged 60, of Pearson Crescent, Wombwell, Barnsley appeared before Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Monday, August 12 and pleaded guilty to violent disorder. He was brought before Sheffield Crown Court to be sentenced on August 14, 2024, when body-worn camera footage was played showing Guest repeatedly being pushed back by a riot shield as he approached a line of police six times outside the Holiday Inn Express, at Manvers, Rotherham, on Sunday August 4. Guest eventually grabs another shield, causing an officer to fall to the floor to the cheers of the large crowd. The female officer whose body-worn camera footage was played said in an impact statement how “I was terrified for my safety” during the disorder outside the hotel, which saw more than 50 police injured and attempts to storm and set light to the building. The officer said “it was a horrific incident of mindless thuggery” and that she had encountered “nothing like it before” in her five and a half years of service. The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said the conduct of the “mob” was “vile towards the police officers”. He told Guest: “You were part of a violent mob and you were playing your part to the full.” Guest, 60, of Pearson Crescent, Wombwell, admitted violent disorder last week. Judge Richardson jailed him for two years, eight months. | SYP
4. Trevor Lloyd: Jailed for three years after admitting violent disorder
A 49-year-old man who was part of a mob that stormed a hotel housing asylum seekers during rioting in Rotherham has been jailed for three years. Father-of-three Trevor Lloyd filmed on a phone as the Holiday Inn Express was breached on Sunday August 4 and then followed a group of men in to the building through a smashed-in fire door, a judge was told. Sheffield Crown Court was shown TikTok footage of 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. The Recorder of Sheffield, 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”. Judge Richardson told him the hotel residents and staff “would have been terrified” when the mob smashed their way into the hotel building. The judge said: “I have seen the footage of what occurred. It was frightening and alarming even to watch in the court room. It must have been utterly terrifying for those present, including the police officers.” 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. | SYP