A man who drove a truck loaded with debris that was later thrown at police during disorder which broke out outside a hotel housing asylum seekers is facing jail.
Jake Turton, of Darfield, Barnsley, was filmed arriving at the scene of the rioting outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on August 4 in his Ford Ranger truck.
The truck was carrying an assortment of wood and other debris that was then plundered by rioters to throw at police and fuel fires which had been set around the hotel.
The 38-year-old admitted violent disorder at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday and will be sentenced by a judge on November 6.
Turton is one of more than 60 men to have been jailed so far for their parts in the disorder outside the hotel, which left 64 police officers injured, as well as four dogs and a horse.
Objects are thrown at police during an anti-immigration protest outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham in August
Anti-migration protesters attempt to enter the Holiday Inn Express Hotel which is housing asylum seekers on August 4,
A rioter is seen throwing debris in the direction of police officers outside the the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, which was being used as an asylum hotel
Prosecutors have described at a previous hearing how a police helicopter captured people grabbing numerous items from Turton’s Ford Ranger which were then used to throw at riot police and fuel fires around the hotel.
On Thursday, Abigail Langford, defending, told Judge Sarah Wright that the prosecution have not alleged that her client loaded the vehicle with the intention the items would be used to attack the police.
She said: ‘The Crown do not say that the defendant was arming people with the wood.
‘It was on the back of the vehicle and people helped themselves to it. He was present at the scene but he did not actively participate.’
Judge Wright told Turton he faced an ‘inevitable custodial sentence’.
The defendant denied a second charge of taking a vehicle without consent and, after the prosecution offered no evidence, he was formally found not guilty of this charge.
Sheffield Crown Court has heard how more than 200 asylum seekers were trapped in the upper floors as rioters smashed windows, set light to a bin pushed against a fire door and broke into the building.
Hotel staff have told the court how they barricaded themselves into a panic room during the rioting, fearing they would die.
The August 4 riots saw clashes with police and video emerged of some protesters appearing to threaten to slit hotel residents’ throats
Far-right protesters outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham on August 4 this year
A thug picks up a bin before throwing it towards police officers amid the violence
Police faced hours of disruption after far-Right yobs attacked the hotel and threw missiles at officers
Earlier this month labourer Craden Mckenzie, 26, was jailed for three years after footage showed him storming the Holiday Express during the disorder.
In a video shown to Sheffield Crown Court Mckenzie can be seen climbing into the Holiday Inn Express before wandering around the deserted lobby area while staff took refuge in the kitchen.
The court heard this was after a mob had smashed in windows and a fire door but before attempts were made to set fire to the building with a burning bin.
Footage was also shown of McKenzie in a crowd which was attacking a group of outnumbered riot police with fire extinguishers and other weapons outside the building amid shouts of ‘burn it down’.
Two days later, Thomas Birley, 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life after he stoked a fire in a bin by an entranceway to the Holiday Inn.
The actions of Birley – who previously posted on social media ‘I can’t be racist because my wife has two black eyes’ – and his fellow rioters caused those inside the hotel to fear for their lives, the court heard.
The self-described ‘God’s gift to decorating’ has previous convictions including criminal damage, attacking emergency workers and racially aggravated harassment.
Birley, who had also pleaded guilty to violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon, was sentenced to nine years in prison at Sheffield Crown Court by Judge Jeremy Richardson, who said Birley’s actions were ‘suffused with racism from beginning to end’.
Craden Mckenzie (pictured) was jailed for three years after he stormed a hotel housing migrants during the far-right riots
Thomas Birley (pictured), 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life after he stoked a fire in a bin by an entranceway to the Holiday Inn Express near Rotherham on August 4
Birley, pictured with the red face covering, threatened officers with a police baton in ‘grotesque’ violence that left staff at the Rotherham hotel fearing for their lives, the court heard
The hotel was targeted by Birley and around 400 others during days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks, which followed the killings of three young girls in the northern town of Southport on July 29.
The Southport attack was initially blamed on an Islamist migrant, false claims based on online misinformation. An 18-year-old, Axel Rudakubana, who was born in Cardiff and has Christian parents, has been charged with three counts of murder as well multiple charges of attempted murder.
A protest in Southport the day after the killings turned violent and riots spread across the country in unrest not seen in Britain since 2011, when the fatal shooting of a black man by police triggered several days of street violence.
Police and prosecutors have responded rapidly, with roughly 1,300 people having been arrested and around 200 jailed – one for as long as six years for violent disorder.