Brothers jailed for leading riot outside Rotherham hotel | Crime

Two brothers have both been sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted for their roles as ringleaders of a riot outside a Rotherham hotel housing more than 200 asylum seekers.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that Luke and Paul Sissons were involved in several violent incidents at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers on August 4, including clashes with riot police and an attack on a police dog truck.

Paul Sissons, 37, a leader of the HS2 tunnelling team, was filmed for almost four hours. He was captured on camera shouting at police and chanting “Tommy Robinson”, throwing missiles at officers and kicking and pushing riot shields as officers tried to push back the crowd.

His brother, Luke Sissons, 34, from Shafton, Barnsley, was also filmed in a group shaking a police van and standing at the front of a crowd challenging officers with riot shields pinned to the hotel wall.

Both men had previously pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

Sheffield registrar, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said the brothers were “at the very front of the crowd that attacked the police officers”.

Referring to the footage of the small group of officers being charged against the hotel wall, he said: “It continues to terrify me and I have the advantage of being able to watch it days after the event, in the secure courtroom.

“It was a terrifying incident and the young officers standing at that cordon must have been terrified of that crowd.”

Christopher Rodgers, a self-employed gas fitter who filmed the riots outside the Rotherham hotel on Snapchat, turned on officers when he was bitten by a police dog “in a particularly sensitive area”, his lawyer told Sheffield Crown Court.

Rodgers, 38, from Barnsley, was jailed for two years. The court heard he was merely filming most of the incident, but when officers attempted to empty the pockets of those involved, Rodgers was among a group of people throwing missiles at police in a nearby housing estate.

The court heard how Rodgers, after being bitten three times by the dog, shouted: “Why are you refusing to take an Englishman to hospital?”

A man who shouted racist abuse at a shopkeeper in Barnsley was also jailed for six months.

Darren Clayton, 47, from Kexbrough, Barnsley, shouted “are you ready for tomorrow” at the man after he took off his shirt and subjected the shopkeeper to a torrent of racist abuse.

Sheffield Crown Court said this was a clear reference to the planned anti-immigration protests for August 8, which largely failed to materialise.

The court was told that on August 7, Clayton shouted at the man, saying: “What is your nationality?”, “Where are you from?”, “This is my city, my country” and “You need to go back to your country.”

The court heard how Clayton later returned and was caught on CCTV pushing over shelves outside the shop and kicking at police who arrested him nearby.

Clayton pleaded guilty to racially motivated harassment and criminal damage, as well as assaulting an emergency worker. Richardson said his behaviour was “ignorant, thoughtless, racist, threatening and disgraceful”.

Daniel Mennell, 36, was sentenced to 27 months in prison at Kingston upon Hull Crown Court after pleading guilty to violent disorder.

The court heard that he threw missiles at police and took a selfie with a stolen police shield during violence in the city on August 3.

Also in Hull, Jackie Miller, 57, was sentenced to eight months in prison for a racist public order offence after she launched a “diatribe against police officers” in front of her 15-year-old daughter.

Judge Thackray told Miller she had used “truly disgraceful words”.

Michael Campbell, 56, from Hull, was sentenced to 20 months in prison at the same court after he tried to fend off a police dog with a bicycle during the riots on August 3.

The court heard he was alone in Hull city centre to buy a suit for a funeral when he became involved in the violence.

The ship’s loading supervisor used his bicycle as an “improvised cordon to ward off police officers” and “fend off a police dog”, which then bit him in the leg, the court heard.

Jarrod Farrah, 32, was also jailed for two years and made the subject of a criminal order for violent disorder after he behaved aggressively towards police by ‘lashing out’ at them during violence in Hull.

Thackray said it was “depressing and terrifying” to see the images of the chaos.

Rory Allington-Mott, 34, from Newport, Shropshire, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court to three years and three months in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder.

Police identified Allington-Mott from video footage of the violent scenes in Southport on July 30. He was captured on camera throwing objects including bricks, a wheelie bin, a plastic box and what appeared to be a picture frame at police vans and officers.

Earlier this week, Liverpool Magistrates Court heard that Allington-Mott had been convicted of causing harm with a religious or racial motive in April last year and had served 24 weeks after a suspended sentence was activated.