UK man receives nine-year sentence for violence, arson at asylum hotel

A UK judge on Friday handed out the longest sentence associated with recent far-right riots to a man who added fuel to a burning bin blocking an exit of a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Painter and decorator Thomas Birley was jailed for nine years for his role in violence outside the Holiday Inn Express hotel near Rotherham, northern England, on August 4.

Judge Jeremy Richardson at Sheffield Crown Court told Birley, 27, that his case was "unquestionably" one of the most serious concerning the Rotherham riot.

Birley was filmed adding wood to a burning industrial bin that had been pushed against an exit, and helped stack another one on top, leading to him being sentenced for arson with intent to endanger life.

He also threw missiles at police and squared up to them while waving a police baton during the violence, which left 64 police officers, three horses and a dog injured.

Staff in the hotel told the court that they "thought they were going to burn to death".

Hundreds of people have been charged following the riots that broke out across England and Northern Ireland after three girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport, northwest England, on July 29.

The UK's judiciary is swiftly moving through court cases and handing down lengthy sentences for those directly involved in the violence, and for encouraging violence online.

As of September 5, more than 200 people had been sentenced in connection with the disorder, from a 13-year-old boy to a 69-year-old man.

A total of 193 of the 202 people received custodial sentences, the country's domestic Press Association news agency said in its tally of cases.