A man who helped stoke a fire outside a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for nine years.
Matthew Crossland, 32, was filmed throwing planks of wood and bricks at police and the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on 4 August last year.
Footage later showed him adding wood to one of the fires that had been set around the building by some of the 400 anti-immigration protesters.
Crossland, of Everill Gate Lane, Wombwell, Barnsley, who pleaded guilty to violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life, was handed one of the longest sentences in connection with the Manvers riot at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday.
A second man, Jack Knight, has been spared jail “by the skin of your teeth”.
The 21-year-old had been caught on video “taunting” officers by running a large stick along their shields and throwing missiles, including stones, at the police line.
The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said: “You have truly endured what may be described as a hardscrabble life so far. The [pre-sentence] report makes it clear what happened to you as a youngster, and I understand.”
The details of Knight’s upbringing were not disclosed in court, but Judge Richardson described them as “baleful”.
Knight, of The Crescent, Bolton-upon-Dearne, was handed a 20-month sentence suspended for two years along with 50 sessions of rehabilitation activity and must return to court for periodic reviews by the judge.
“We all need boundaries, and the problem with your life is there haven’t been any,” Judge Richardson said.
He told him there would be no further chances, adding: “Justice, on occasion, needs to be seasoned with mercy.”
