'Racist' hotel rioter jailed for six years

A rioter who set fire to a generator as a mob besieged a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for six years.

Scott Greenwood was filmed throwing wood on the fire during the disorder at the Holiday Inn Express at Manvers, near Rotherham, on 4 August, Sheffield Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said Greenwood was part of a group that set fire to items around a disused generator and threw fencing from nearby gardens on it.

Greenwood, 34, who pleaded guilty to violent disorder and arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, is the latest of more than 70 men to be jailed since the rioting at the hotel.

Judge Richardson said the fire posed a serious danger to police and nearby residents.

The court heard that Greenwood was later spotted at the forefront of a mob taunting a line of riot police and stoked a grass fire which had been lit to create a smoke hazard for the officers.

The judge heard that the defendant was easily identified when he took off his shirt and tied it round his face and also because of a distinctive St George's flag bucket hat he was wearing.

Judge Richardson said the hat gave the lie to the defendant's claims that he had no racist intent when he attended the disorder at the hotel.

He told Greenwood, of Tingle Bridge Lane in Hemingfield, South Yorkshire, that the hat "undoubtedly had racist connotations" and he intended to take part in "racist mob violence".

"It's a very sad state of affairs that that flag, and on occasions the Union flag, has been appropriated by racists such as you," the judge said, adding that "immigration is a legitimate matter for public and political debate."

The judge said: "We live in a democratic country where public debate and freedom of expression are entirely acceptable.

"What took place in Rotherham that day had nothing whatsoever to do with legitimate public protest.

"It was a desire to perpetrate mob rule."

Judge Richardson ruled that Greenwood, who has made 44 previous court appearances covering 103 separate offences, was "dangerous" and would therefore be subject to an extended sentence.

He said this meant a six-year prison term followed by an extended licence period of three years.

Judge Richardson told Richardson: "You are a dangerous offender.

"History could repeat itself."

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