Two fathers jailed for hotel riot

A court has heard that a rioter who was jailed for his role in a riot outside a hotel housing asylum seekers will not be present at the birth of his third child.

Kurt Hooley was captured on police-worn footage trying to grab a police officer’s protective shield during the incident at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on August 4.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that Hooley, 34, of no fixed abode, was also part of a group that taunted police and threw missiles at officers protecting the hotel and its residents.

Hooley’s pregnant girlfriend, who watched the trial from the public gallery, appeared visibly upset as a judge sentenced him to two years and eight months in prison on Tuesday.

Hooley, who has three previous convictions, including two for section 4 public order offences, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a public order offence.

Prosecutor Neil Coxon said Hooley was eventually identified from a video that had circulated online because of his distinctive clothing and tattoos.

Mr Coxon said that when he was arrested and questioned by police he claimed to have been a bystander and denied being present at the scene at all.

The court heard that although Hooley believed he had done nothing wrong, he was “fearful of the consequences” and burned the clothes he was wearing that day.

Victim impact statements read in court detailed how stressful the incident was for police officers and hotel staff.

One officer said he felt “like we were fighting for our lives,” while another said he witnessed “unspeakable acts of violence” at the riot scene.

Meanwhile, a hotel security guard said that despite the passage of time, the sound of stones being thrown at the windows and the fire alarm, which had been going off for many hours that day, could still be heard.

Father-of-three Richard Harrison was also sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday.

The 37-year-old, of Ingsfield Lane, Rotherham, was filmed insulting the officers and pushing one of them, who fell to the ground.

Mr Coxon described Harrison as a “catalyst for the violence that followed” and said the officer was exposed to further attacks by rioters.

Judge Sarah Wright heard that when Harrison’s daughter was shown the footage she saw “her father in a crowd he was not a part of” and that she read in the news “about a man she did not recognise”.

The court heard that at the time of the riot Harrison was the subject of a community service order for a previous conviction.

Judge Wright sentenced him to two years and six months in prison for disturbing the public order.

She told him she took into account his mental health issues and addictions.

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