Painter receives longest prison sentence to date after summer riots: He must go to prison for nine years

Thomas Birley was sentenced to nine years in prison, suspended for five years, at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday.

Judge Jeremy Richardson KC of Sheffield District Court told Birley, 27, his case was “without doubt” one of the most serious of the dozens he had dealt with in the last month relating to the disturbances outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers on August 4.

The court heard that Birley, of Rowms Lane, Swinton, Rotherham, was involved in many of the worst incidents that Sunday afternoon, including adding wood to ignite the large industrial container that had been pushed in front of an exit and helping to place another container on top of the burning container.

Birley was also filmed throwing projectiles at police, engaging with officers while brandishing a baton, and throwing a large rubbish bin which crashed into a line of police officers wearing riot shields.

The defendant was the first person to be convicted of arson with intent to endanger human life following the 12 hours of violence in Manvers in which 64 police officers, three horses and a dog were injured.

Judge Richardson heard how 22 hotel employees barricaded themselves in the hotel's panic room with freezers and “thought they were going to burn to death”.

He said that because of Birley's continued dangerousness, he had to impose an extended prison sentence, which also included an extension of his probation period by five years.