Two men jailed for arson during hotel riot
Two men have been jailed for their "truly appalling" roles in disorder at a Rotherham hotel that housed asylum seekers.
Mason Lowe, 28, and Morgan Heeley, 26, both of Barnsley, admitted arson and violent disorder at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers on 4 August last year.
Heeley threw a fire extinguisher at police while Lowe tried to stop people putting out a blaze, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
At sentencing on Monday, Heeley was jailed for 11 years and Lowe for 10 years six months.
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said as well as "truly appalling civil disorder", both men were "at the fore" of the mob.
Trainee barber Heeley was sentenced to 11 years in prison for arson with intent to endanger life, including three years four months to be served concurrently for violent disorder.
He was seen spraying a fire extinguisher and throwing it at police, hitting an officer over the head with a plank and attempting to set the hotel's curtains alight.
Lowe was jailed for 10 years, six months for arson with intent to endanger life, with three years nine months to be served concurrently for violent disorder.
He was seen kicking at officers, attempting to grab a riot shield, drinking alcohol and holding plywood against a broken fire door to stop people extinguishing the fire, Judge Richardson said.
Driving the couple's Mercedes with his children crying inside, his partner told him to "grow up", the judge said, adding that both men's families were "materially affected by [their] criminal conduct".
It was "immaterial" that neither man started the fire as both were "well to the fore", chanting "high-octane racist abuse", Judge Richardson said.
Lowe's previous driving offences would not be considered during sentencing, the judge said, but Heeley's more serious convictions, including affray and taking weapons into prison, would count, he said.
The judge acknowledged Heeley struggled academically at school and may have been "looking for kudos" at the riots.
"There is no doubt that the families of each of you will suffer as a consequence of what you did," Judge Richardson told the men.
He said it was true the families of criminals suffered "almost as much".
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