A camouflage balaclava-wearing rioter who helped fuel a fire outside a hotel housing asylum-seekers has been jailed for eight years.
Father-of-two Arron Bailey, 28, also sprayed a fire extinguisher at police, pushed a shopping trolley at a line of officers and threw a rock at a van during the disorder outside the Holiday Inn Express, in Manvers, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on August 4.
Sheffield Crown Court heard the former construction worker admitted he “has ruined his life through this one day”, as he was jailed on Wednesday for eight years with an extended licence period of three years.
Bailey, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life.
The court heard he was seen “to the fore of many of the various pockets of disorder” that day, wearing a camouflage balaclava in much of the footage.
Clips played in court showed Bailey adding large planks and cardboard boxes to a bin that had been set on fire outside the doors of the hotel.
A judge heard he was part of a group chanting “Yorkshire, Yorkshire,” as they descended on a police van, and was seen arming himself with a large rock and throwing it at the vehicle.
Bailey was also seen commandeering a shopping trolley from a nearby Aldi supermarket and pushing it at the police line.
At one point he was also seen spraying a fire extinguisher at the police line, forcing them to retreat, before throwing the empty fire extinguisher at police officers.
In mitigation, the court heard Bailey was a construction worker who struggled to get work after lockdown, and had told a probation officer he had “ruined his life through this one day”.
A judge heard 14 references had been submitted for Bailey from family and friends which “struggle to come to terms with exactly what he has done”.
The court heard that before the day of the riot he was “essentially a family man who had a good relationship with family and friends”.
More than 60 people have been jailed at Sheffield Crown Court for their roles in the Rotherham disorder, in which 64 police officers, three horses and a dog were injured as the building was besieged by about 400 people.
More than 200 asylum seekers and staff were trapped in the hotel, as some rioters broke into the building and attempts were made to set it alight.
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said that despite the number of riot cases he had now sentenced, “It never ceases to amaze me that young men such as yourself have, in consequence of what they did that day, ruined their lives and ruined the lives of their families”.