Levi Fishlock: Man gets joint-longest sentence for summer riots

A man who tried to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for nine years, the joint-longest prison sentence in connection with the UK’s summer of riots.

Levi Fishlock smashed windows and stoked a flaming bin at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, during a spate of disorder on 4 August.

Fishlock, 31, of Sheffield Road, Barnsley, initially denied violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life but later pleaded guilty to the charges.

Jailing him, the Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said: “This is one of the worst cases of its kind stemming from the Rotherham disorder.”

Fishlock’s sentence, which also includes a five-year licence period after he is released from jail, is the same as that of Thomas Birley, who was also part of the 400-strong crowd, some of whom attempted to torch the hotel in South Yorkshire.

Large-scale disorder saw more than 60 police officers injured as rioters, many armed with weapons, circled the hotel.

During the violence, security staff and people inside the hotel were told by police to hide in bedrooms and lock the doors to protect themselves.

The two-day sentencing hearing at Sheffield Crown Court was told Fishlock had been wearing “a very identifiable” purple T-shirt as he smashed the hotel’s windows by throwing bricks and broken paving slabs.

Fishlock, whose shirt bore Bellingham and the number 10 on the back, told arresting officers that throwing missiles and stoking the fire was for a “good cause” despite about 200 asylum seekers plus hotel staff being trapped in the besieged building.

He also used fencing slats and metal poles “as weapons against officers” and was seen “smashing up” an air conditioning unit outside the hotel.

Fishlock also grasped a “sharp-edged object” while making threatening gestures towards those in the hotel as well as setting fire to makeshift barricades, the court heard.

Alisha Kaye, prosecuting, said: “In his pre-sentencing report he stated he just came upon the incident and had no intention to go there deliberately.

“It’s remarkable coincidence that he was wearing an England shirt. He is deliberately tapping his England badge [on footage].”

Father-of-one Fishlock had no previous convictions but was reprimanded in 2007 for violent disorder and given a caution in 2010 for assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Judge Richardson told him: “You were a prominent participant. You played a part in almost every aspect of the racist mob violence on that terrible day in August in Rotherham.

“You and many like you were intent on spreading a hateful message of violence and racism.

“From first to last, the venom of racism infected the entirety of what occurred.”

Benn Robinson, mitigating, told the court Fishlock had a “problematic relationship with drugs in various junctures of his life” following his brother’s death in his teenage years.

He said his client struggled with anxiety and depression and had, upon reflection, felt “genuine shame and remorse” over his conduct in Manvers.

BBC research suggests that Fishlock is the 80th person sentenced for their part in the trouble in and around the hotel.

Chris Hartley, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said Fishlock’s prominent part in the riot “terrified the residents and staff of the hotel and caused significant amounts of physical damage.”

He said: “Highly experienced police officers described the disorder as the worst they had ever seen in their careers.

“The violence had left them in fear for their lives.”

Mr Hartley said the tough sentence imposed should “serve as a lesson for anyone considering taking part in this type of disorder in future.”

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.