A bricklayer who went into a hotel which was besieged by rioters before throwing a fire extinguisher and a chair at police has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Ashley Williams, 21, was caught on CCTV as he roamed around the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on August 4 with a fire extinguisher in his hand as more than 200 asylum seekers took shelter upstairs and staff barricaded themselves into the kitchen.
The footage was shown at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday along with further clips which showed him emerging from the building, wearing very distinctive “neon green” shorts and a t-shirt, and throwing the fire extinguisher at a line of police officers with riot shields who were pinned against a wall.
Williams, of Lowfield Walk, Denaby Main, South Yorkshire, then re-joined the large crowd which was screaming at the officers and throwing missiles before emerging again to throw a chair at the line of shields.
The court heard how 64 police officers, four horses and a dog were injured in the violence outside the hotel and the mob tried to set fire to the building as a number of people smashed their way in through a fire door.
James Burley, defending, said his client came from a “stable, loving home” and is “adamant there is no issue of racist intent”.
Mr Burley said Williams, who admitted violent disorder at an earlier hearing, has ADHD and has recently also been diagnosed with autism.
Judge Sarah Wright acknowledged that the defendant “struggled with consequential thinking” and had no previous convictions.
But she said he played a willing role in the violence.
Judge Wright said the disorder was “truly frightening” and added: “The police officers behaved with immense professionalism in the face of a determined and violent mob.”
More than 50 people have now been sentenced following the incident at the hotel.
Also on Wednesday, Nathan Annables, 25, of Manor Avenue, Goldthorpe, pleaded guilty to violent disorder in relation to the violence in Manvers.
He was remanded in custody to appear again at Sheffield Crown Court on October 16.
