a day ago
Brothers jailed after rioting outside asylum seeker hotel
Two brothers have each been jailed for three years for their part in rioting outside a hotel housing asylum seekers last summer.
Scott and Jason McGuire were at the forefront of the disorder which engulfed the Holiday Inn Express near Rotherham, on August 4, 2024, Sheffield Crown Court heard on Monday.
The brothers were jailed along with two others men – Keethan Reeve-Lawson and Daniel Kazemi.
This is understood to have brought the total number of people sentenced for the Rotherham violence to 104.
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC outlined how the McGuire brothers were at the forefront of the 'mob' during the most serious part of the disorder on that Sunday afternoon.
The judge has heard over dozens of hearings how the hotel was besieged for around 12 hours.
Police officers and the hotel itself were pelted with missiles as more than 200 asylum seekers and 22 staff were trapped inside.
At one point, the rioters smashed their way into the building and a burning wheelie-bin was pushed against a fire door.
A total of 64 officers were injured in the violence along with police horses and a dog.
Judge Richardson said it was his 'misfortune' to have sentenced most of those arrested after the disorder and said he was very familiar with video footage of the violence shown in court.
He said: 'Each time I see this exceptionally serious disturbance represented in the footage of these events I feel, as I'm sure many others feel, profound shame that such shocking disorder should occur in this country.'
The judge said: 'The venom of racism and racially motivated violence suffuses the events from first to last.'
Judge Richardson told the defendants: 'Several hundred people were intent on mob rule. That will never be tolerated in this country.'
And he added: 'All of those police officers are deserving of the highest praise for the way in which they resisted provocation and handled an immensely challenging situation with bravery, professionalism and skill.'
Judge Richardson described how Scott McGuire was captured arriving at the scene with what appeared to be his partner and a child in a pushchair.
He was later pictured in the mob at various times during the disorder and is seen dismantling safety barriers in front of the riot police as well as kicking items which were then thrown at the officers by others.
The judge said: 'You were involved in fierce attacks on police officers close to the hotel.
'You were well to the fore and your participation was of a high order.'
Judge Richardson said Jason McGuire was filmed throwing missiles at officers and a police van as well as at the hotel building, while wearing a mask.
He was also filmed tearing down fencing which was used by others to throw at the police lines and fuel the fire which was set outside the building.
The judge said: 'Your involvement was well to the fore in the most serious aspects of the episodes that afternoon.'
The court heard how Jason McGuire was jailed for four years in 2015 for a drugs offence and for 10 years in 2018 for a machete attack.
Judge Richardson jailed Reeve-Lawson and Kazemi for 22 months each after hearing how they were involved in later incidents once police had managed to push the mob away from immediately outside the hotel.
Kazemi was filmed throwing a can of beer at officers, which smashed against their shields, and the judge noted that he was 'visibly happy' when another man threw a metal bar at police.
Richard Barradell, defending Kazemi, said 'like many others' his client joined in 'once the pack mentality started'.
He said: 'He cannot for the life of him explain why.'
Mr Barradell said his client was 'bitterly embarrassed' and wanted to apologise to everyone involved.
Scott McGuire, 35, and Jason McGuire, 31, both of Schofield Street, Mexborough; Reeve-Lawson, 22, of Mount Vernon Road, Worsbrough Common, Barnsley, and Kazemi, 35, of Edna Street, Bolton-upon-Dearne, all admitted violent disorder at a previous hearing.
