Ex-soldier who served in Kosovo is jailed after participating in riots
A judge told a former soldier who served as a peacekeeper in Kosovo that his participation in riots was ‘astonishing.’
Peter Beard, 43, who also performed tours of Bosnia and Northern Ireland with the Royal Green Jackets between 1998 and 2003, admitted pushing aggressively at a line of officers protecting a hotel housing asylum seekers during disorder in Rotherham.
Jailing the father of three, who lives in the town, for two and a half years, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, the Recorder of Sheffield, said it was ‘astonishing’ Beard had become involved as he had been ‘on the receiving end’ of public order incidents as a peacekeeper.
‘Your conduct was shameful, it was disgraceful,’ the judge added.
Peter Beard, 43, who has pleaded guilty to violent disorder after taking part in Rotherham riots
An aerial view of anti-migration protesters outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers on August 4
A picture shows a police cordon outside the Holiday Inn Express hotel. Hundreds of people have so far been charged in the UK following the widespread disorder
The unrest, outside the Holiday Inn Express, in Manvers, on August 4 left 58 police officers, three police horses and a police dog injured, as louts attempted to storm the building and set it on fire.
Hundreds of people have so far been charged in the UK following the widespread disorder.
On Wednesday, the latest batch of defendants to appear in court included men accused or convicted of unrest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham.
The unrest outside the Holiday Inn Express, in Manvers, on August 4 left 58 police officers, three police horses and a police dog injured, and saw attempts to storm the building and set it on fire.
Railway engineer Morgan Hardy, 29, of Melton High Street, Rotherham, is accused of throwing chairs, fencing and a fire extinguisher at police guarding the hotel, and denies violent disorder.
A 27-year-old man who threw a wood panel onto a fire outside the hotel admitted a charge of arson with intent to endanger life.
Recorder of Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told Thomas Birley his offending is ‘unquestionably’ the most serious of all those he has dealt with in the last fortnight in relation to the rioting outside the Holiday Inn Express, at Manvers, Rotherham, on August 4.
A 27-year-old man who threw a wood panel onto a fire outside the hotel admitted a charge of arson with intent to endanger life. (Pictured, police tape outside the Holiday Express hotel)
The unrest outside the Holiday Inn Express, in Manvers, on August 4 left 58 police officers, three police horses and a police dog injured. (Riot police clash with protesters outside the hotel)
Rioters are seen attempting to enter the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Rotherham, housing asylum seekers, on August 4
Birley, of Rowms Lane, Swinton, Rotherham, who also admitted violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon, will be sentenced on September 6.
Elsewhere Jake Lowther, 20, of Abrams Fold, Banks was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders’ institute for throwing stones at police in Southport.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he picked up two pieces of brick or stone from a broken wall and threw them towards police, with one hitting a riot shield.
A number of people involved in the Southport disorder were jailed on Wednesday, including father-of-three Luke Moran, 38, who was sentenced to three years after trying to smash a police van window.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the officer inside, Pc James Hayes, feared for his life as Moran used a large piece of concrete to hit the carrier three times.
Cocaine addict Daniel Carrigan, 41, of Preston Grove, Liverpool, was jailed for two years and eight months after admitting violent disorder and criminal damage, for throwing items at a police van and kicking the vehicle.
The court heard he had been convicted of a racially aggravated common assault in 2016 after telling a traffic warden he should ‘return back to his own country’.
Thomas Whitehead, 53, was arrested on a plane at Manchester Airport after his picture was circulated by police as part of the mob that had gathered outside the town’s mosque.
The father-of-three was sentenced to one year and eight months for violent disorder for throwing ‘items’ at police.
Manager for a scaffolding firm Nicholas Sinclair, 38, of Bury Road, Birkdale, was seen in footage throwing bricks at the officers, and was jailed for two years and four months for the same offence.
A police officer is seen trying to extinguish flames after a mob set a wheelie bin alight at the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham which was housing asylum seekers
In a separate case, a man who live-streamed disorder outside an asylum hotel was warned to get a lawyer and that he is in a ‘serious position’ by Judge Maurice Greene at Manchester Crown Court.
Aaron Johnson 32, of Criterion Street, Stockport, admitted inciting racial hatred by using racist language in a live stream broadcast to ‘millions of people’ from outside an asylum hotel in Stockport on August 5.
He will be sentenced on September 19.
Declan Dixon, 22, of Salisbury Avenue, Hindley, Wigan, was jailed for 18 months at Teesside Crown Court for throwing a missile towards police on July 31 in Hartlepool.
The electrician, who told police he had been present ‘out of curiosity’, had admitted violent disorder and possessing cocaine.
Michael Stevenson, 34, of Newport Road, Middlesbrough, who tried to set fire to a wheelie bin which was pushed towards riot police during disorder in the town, was jailed for 26 months.
Scaffolder Perrie Fisher, 29, who rode a children’s scooter before throwing it at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Aldershot and telling a police officer to f*** off, was sentenced to 29 months.
