Second Rotherham rioter jailed over arson attempt

A rioter who tried to set fire to a hotel used for asylum seekers while wearing a purple England kit during the UK summer riots has been jailed.

- BARNEY DAVIS

Levi Fishlock, at one point tapping the England badge on his shirt, added planks of wood to a wheelie bin fire next to the Holiday Inn Express at Manvers, Rotherham.

Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said the defendant, who was part of a group shouting abuse and racial slurs, was “involved in almost every arena of racist criminal conduct that day”.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how the 31-year-old helped build barricades that were then set on fire, and made threatening gestures with a sharp object towards asylum seekers stuck inside the hotel who were looking out through the windows.

The court was told Fishlock was “very identifiable” by his distinctive purple England football shirt, which had “Bellingham” written on the back. Fishlock, of Sheffield Road in Barnsley, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life, as well as possession of an offensive weapon.