Man in northern England sentenced to nine years in prison for arson with intent to endanger human life

LONDON – A man who helped start a fire outside a hotel housing more than 200 asylum seekers was sentenced to nine years in prison on Friday, the longest sentence ever handed down for those involved in last month's wave of far-right unrest in England.

At the verdict at Sheffield Crown Court in the north of England, painter and decorator Thomas Birley pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger human life at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in nearby Rotherham.

Judge Jeremy Richardson told Birley, 27, that his case was “undoubtedly” one of the most serious of the dozens he had dealt with over the past month relating to the riot outside the hotel on August 4, adding that like other outbreaks of violence in England in early August, it was “riddled with racism”. He said he had considered a life sentence.

The court heard that the masked Birley was involved in many of the worst incidents that Sunday afternoon, including adding wood to a burning bin outside an exit and helping to place another bin on top of the burning bin.

Birley was also filmed throwing projectiles at police, engaging with officers while brandishing a baton, and throwing a large rubbish bin which crashed into a line of police officers wearing riot shields.

He was the first person to be convicted of arson with intent to endanger human life following the 12-hour violence in Manvers in which 64 police officers, three horses and a dog were injured.

“You intended serious harm to come to the hotel guests and you clearly participated in a brutal attack on the police who were valiantly trying to maintain order,” the judge said. “You were a major participant in an ignorant, racist attempt to rile up a mob.”

The judge heard how 22 hotel employees barricaded themselves in the hotel's panic room with freezers, “thinking they were going to burn to death.” Eventually, police brought the situation under control and no one in the hotel was injured.

He also heard how the more than 200 asylum seekers in the hotel were trapped by the crowd, even though the alarms were going off.

He said he had to impose a longer sentence because of Birley's dangerousness to the public and ordered him to remain on probation for five years after his release. The judge said he was particularly concerned about aspects of a pre-sentence report which said Birley had an interest that “bordered on, if not exceeded, the boundaries of a white supremacist mentality”.

Birley, who has previous convictions including racially motivated harassment, admitted arson with intent to endanger human life, violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon at an earlier hearing.

The unrest in England's cities began after a shooting spree during a dance class on August 1, in which three girls were killed and many others injured. False rumors spread on the Internet that the perpetrator was an asylum seeker.

Far-right agitators sought to capitalise on the attack, raising concerns about the scale of immigration in Britain and in particular the tens of thousands of migrants arriving in small boats across the English Channel from France.

“What happened in Rotherham that day had nothing whatsoever to do with legitimate public protest,” the judge said. “There is no doubt that from beginning to end the toxic waste of racism permeated everything that happened.”

The violence across the country also included a library being set on fire, mosques being attacked and flares being thrown at a statue of wartime leader Winston Churchill. Hundreds of people were arrested and scores of people injured.

The unrest fizzled out after a few days of chaos when anti-fascists made their presence clear, the police cracked down hard and those involved were quickly charged and convicted.