Man admits stoking bin fire at asylum hotel riot

Levi Fishlock, 31, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life and will be sentenced in December

A man has admitted to trying set a hotel on fire where more than 200 asylum seekers were staying, a court heard.

Levi Fishlock stoked and threw a flaming bin at the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, during a spate of disorder on 4 August.

He initially denied violent disorder and arson with intent to endanger life but pleaded guilty to the charges at Sheffield Crown Court earlier.

Fishlock, 31, of Sheffield Road, Barnsley, will be sentenced on 11 December and was remanded into custody by Judge Peter Hampton.

Previous hearings heard how Fishlock had been part of a group who pushed a burning bin against the hotel and stoked the fire.

More than 60 men have so far been jailed for their parts in the disorder outside the hotel, which left 64 police officers injured, as well as four dogs and a horse.

Sheffield Crown Court has heard how more than 200 asylum seekers were trapped in the upper floors as rioters smashed windows and set light to the bin.

Hotel staff have told the court how they barricaded themselves into a panic room during the rioting, fearing they would die as they smelt the smoke.

Jake Turton, 38, will be sentenced on 6 November after pleading guilty to violent disorder

At the same court, another man admitted driving to the hotel in a pick-up truck laden with debris for rioters to hurl at police.

Jake Turton was filmed arriving at the scene in a Ford Ranger with wood and other scrap items on the back.

Rioters then used the wood to throw at officers and to fuel fires around the hotel that were blocking asylum seekers and staff inside.

Turton, 38, of Darfield, Barnsley, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and will be sentenced on 6 November.

Turton's defence barrister said the rioters "helped themselves" to the wood and that the defendant did not actively participate in the violence.

However, Judge Sarah Wright said a custodial sentence was "inevitable".

Turton denied another charge of taking a vehicle without consent and was found not guilty.

He was also remanded into custody.

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