UK riots: Seven to be sentenced for Rotherham asylum-hotel attack

Amongst those due in court today is seven men who will be sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court following the attack on a hotel housing asylum-seekers in Rotherham.

Rioters set parts of the building on fire on Sunday August and pelted it with rocks and debris while asylum seekers were inside.

Men in balaclavas managed to push their way through a shattered window into part of the building, with police seemingly overwhelmed by the number of protesters.

A woman who is accused of posting a threatening Facebook post suggesting people “blow up a mosque with adults inside” is due to appear in court.

Julie Sweeney, 53, Lawtongate Estate in Church Lawton, Cheshire, will appear at Chester Crown Court after being charged with sending communication threatening death or serious harm.

Over 1,000 people have now been arrested for riot-related offences, the national policing body said.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council said in its latest update that 1,024 had been arrested and 575 charged across the UK. Those arrested include a 69-year-old accused of vandalism in Liverpool and a 11-year-old boy in Belfast.

• Craig Tunmore, 37, of Sutton, and Danny Fournier, 41, of Lambeth, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court following Whitehall riots. Tunmore has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker and Fournier has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker and using threatening or insulting behaviour.
• Mark Bowen and Daniel Russell to be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court for violent disorder at a riot in Bristol on August 4.
• Julie Sweeney, 53, is due to appear at Chester Crown Court charged with sending communication threatening death or serious harm.
• Liam Ryan, 28, to be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court for being part of the group that attacked a black man in Manchester.
• Riley Adey, 19, and Reece Greenwood, 31, to be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court after pleading guilty to violent disorder in Sunderland.
• Habeeb Khan to appear at Birmingham Crown Court accused of possessing an imitation AK-47, sending a communication threatening death or serious harm and harassment of a police officer.

More investment in frontline youth work could help keep young people away from violence and counter misinformation, a sector leader has said as children as young as 12 were convicted over the summer riots.

Analysis by the PA news agency shows at least 50 youths under the age of 18 have been charged in connection with the nationwide disorder.

On Monday, two 12-year-old boys were convicted on charges of violent disorder, while Tuesday saw a 13-year-old girl plead guilty to the same charge.

Kayleigh Wainwright, from leading youth work charity UK Youth, said it is “really sad” to see children “caught up in this”, whether perpetrators, victims or witnesses to scenes of unrest.

The director of youth sector innovation, whose career working with young people has spanned two decades, said those who committed crimes must take responsibility but voiced concern that children can be “more vulnerable”.

She told PA: “Of course those people, young or old, when they’re involved (in crime) need to take responsibility for that.

“But I think we see young people are more vulnerable when it comes to being manipulated with information, adults asking them to do things, being pushed to the front of these types of activities, and because they’re younger, maybe fitter, maybe more impressionable.

“In my career, I’ve never seen riots on this scale but it’s not unusual that young people would be involved in the ways I’ve said.”

Labour MP Clive Lewis is facing calls for his suspension over a tweet appearing to suggest Israel is to blame for the far-right riots that swept the UK last week.

The MP for Norwich South argued that the “inhumanity” shown towards Palestinians in Gaza has led to rising Islamophobia in the UK, causing campaigners to call for his suspension.

Labour Against Antisemitism has accused Mr Lewis of being highly irresponsible and has urged Sir Keir Starmer to expell him from the party. However, it is understood that no disciplinary action will be taken against the MP by party whips.

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A British businesswoman accused of being the first person to share false information about the Southport killings of three girls has said the “mistake” has “destroyed” her.

Bernadette Spofforth is alleged to have fired off a tweet on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, wrongly claiming the stabbing suspect was an asylum seeker who came to the UK by boat hours after the three girls were killed.

The 55-year-old also shared an incorrect name for the boy accused of perpetrating attacks at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport, in which three people died.

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A man who looted a cosmetics store, a phone shop, a shoe outlet and damaged cars during riots in Hull while wearing a shirt emblazoned with the England flag has pleaded guilty in court.

Honey also too part in an attack on a BMW carrying three Romanian men, targeted a garage leaving nine vehicles damaged, and pushed bins at police lines during the violence.

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