NINE YEARS
Longest sentence yet for yob who tried to torch asylum hotel while yelling ‘Yorkshire!’
A THUG who stoked a fire outside an asylum seekers’ hotel has been jailed for nine years.
It is the longest sentence yet in the wake of the riots that followed the killing of three girls in Southport.
The judge told Thomas Birley, 27, his case was unquestionably the most serious to come before him.
In late July, disorder broke out across Britain after online posts wrongly suggested the Southport suspect was an asylum seeker.
Birley was spotted adding wood to a fire in an industrial bin which had been pushed against an emergency exit at the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, South Yorks.
Chanting “Yorkshire!” he also helped place a further bin on top of the one ablaze.
Birley was part of a group that smashed windows and called police “f***ing nonce protectors”. More than 50 officers were injured.
Those inside the hotel thought they would burn to death, Sheffield crown court heard.
They barricaded themselves in the hotel’s “panic room” by pushing freezers against the doors. Decorator Birley, 27, of Swinton, near Rotherham, had pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life, violent disorder and having an offensive weapon – a police baton.
In addition to his nine years’ jail he must serve another five on licence. While on remand in prison he appeared to be posting on Facebook.
In a misspelt message, he told friends he expected to get eight years to life and added: “If your going to court about this riot...when ya land in jail dont be running your mouth of about as your gonna end up stabbed.”
He then warns of a particular wing to avoid as it “had most attacks on rioters” adding: “Ide highly suggest refusing nottingham jail… keep your heads down and don’t be a victim.”
Judge Jeremy Richardson told Birley he was “intent on spreading a hateful message. You knew you were going to participate in racist mob violence – you took a scarf on a warm day to cover your face.”