Rioters from Rotherham among those arrested

Two men who took part in a riot outside a Rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers have been jailed in response to the worst violent unrest Britain has seen in more than a decade.

Nathan Palmer, 29, and Niven Matthewman, 19, were both sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for being part of a violent mob that attacked a hotel housing asylum seekers.

At least 422 people have been charged in England and Wales in connection with the violent riots, some of them facing multiple charges.

The government had previously confirmed emergency measures to alleviate prison overcrowding in England and Wales.

Palmer, a self-employed tradesman, is said to have 'commanded' a police riot shield and joined the mob while on probation for drugs offences. He was part of a group of hundreds who attacked the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on August 4.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that Palmer's prison sentence would impact on the end-of-life care he provided to his elderly grandmother, who suffers from dementia and has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

“What led you to take part in this crime can only be described as utter stupidity,” Jeremy Richardson KC, Judge at the Recorder of Sheffield, told him.

Matthewman, who was also part of the same group of protesters, threw a chair at police and shouted “Yorkshire, Yorkshire” after the hotel was set on fire.

Video footage also showed him, wrapped in an English flag, standing next to a police car containing a police officer, a sergeant and a police dog, being rocked by other rioters.

Donna Conniff, mother of six childrenThe 40-year-old was sentenced to two years in prison for violent disorder after throwing a brick and a stone at officers during a violent demonstration in Hartlepool.

Their identities were established from footage of the protest that took place in the city on July 31.

She was seen giving a child a brick and telling him to throw it at the police

“Your behaviour and the behaviour of those around you was truly disgraceful,” Judge Francis Laird KC told her.

She must serve a maximum of half of her 24-month sentence in pre-trial detention before being released on parole.

David Notley, 67, was sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder and causing religious suffering.

He was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court after shouting at police officers during a demonstration in Whitehall: “You are no longer English.”

Kelly Wildego, a 41-year-old mother, was given a four-month suspended sentence after attacking a paramedic during a demonstration in central London.

Prosecutors said Wildego shouted profanities at police officers and attacked them after the violence had largely stopped.

Defense attorney Joseph Lord said Wildego was “deeply ashamed” of her actions and allowed herself to be arrested to be with her husband, who had previously been arrested by police.

She received a suspended sentence because she is a full-time caregiver for her son, who has learning difficulties.

Dean Groenewald, 32, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison at Newcastle Crown Court for his part in the riots in Sunderland. The judge described the riots as an “orgy of violence”, describing them a day after three girls were stabbed to death in Southport.

Groenewald has 30 previous convictions, including affray, criminal damage and assault, and was on probation for a previous offence at the time of the Sunderland riots.

David Engleby, Paul Dryhurst and Luke Summerfield were all sentenced to prison for throwing projectiles at police officers near a mosque in Southport.

Engelby, 29, from Southport, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison, Dryhurst, 33, from Litherland, was sentenced to two years and Summerfield, 33, from Aston under Lyne in Greater Manchester, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison.

The court heard that Dryhurst's parents both work in the emergency services and are “astonished” by their son's behaviour.

Judge Watson said: “It would be wrong and misleading to consider the actions of individuals in isolation, because violence feeds on itself. Events develop a dynamic of their own.”

On Monday, Downing Street confirmed it had taken emergency measures to reduce prison overcrowding in parts of northern England and the Midlands.

Last Friday morning, 87,893 people were in prison in England and Wales.

This means that the facilities were left with an operating margin of 1,298 beds, or about 1.5% of the system's total capacity.

The emergency measure, known as Operation Early Dawn, means that defendants are only summoned to a district court if there is a place available for them in prison.

Court proceedings could be delayed and people could be held in police cells or released on bail while awaiting trial.

In the meantime, the Prison Service, courts and police will assess which defendants can be moved from police cells to courtrooms to ensure that there is a place available for them in the event of remand.