Man jailed for 9 years for arson at asylum seekers’ hotel in UK riots

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LONDON (Reuters) – A British man was jailed for nine years on Friday for arson at a hotel housing asylum seekers last month, by far the longest sentence imposed over a wave of anti-Muslim riots.

Thomas Birley, 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life after stoking a fire in a bin by an entranceway to a hotel near Rotterdam in northern England on Aug. 4.

Prosecutor Elisha Kay said Birley added wood to an already-flaming industrial bin which had been placed in front of a fire door of the hotel while staff and guests sheltered inside.

Kay said hotel staff barricaded themselves in a panic room and “thought they were going to burn to death”.

Birley, who also pleaded guilty to violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court by Judge Jeremy Richardson, who said Burley’s actions were “suffused with racism from beginning to end”.

Richardson said Birley had been encouraged to join the disorder “by malicious and ignorant posts” on social media.

“You were a leading participant in ignorant, racist attempts at mob rule,” the judge said.

The hotel was targeted by about 400 people during days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks after three young girls were killed in the northern English town of Southport on July 29.

The attack was initially falsely blamed on an Islamist migrant following online misinformation. 

A protest in Southport the day after the killings turned violent, and riots spread across the country, leading to about 1,300 arrests and around 200 people being jailed. 

The longest sentence over the riots had until Friday had been six years for violent disorder. Others have been charged for inciting racial or religious hatred online.

(This story has been refiled to change the spelling of Birley, in paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5)

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Sarah Young and Timothy Heritage)