Man faces jail for 'vile' call to burn hotels

Multiple fires were set around the hotel in Manvers, Rotherham, on 4 August

A man who called for hotels housing asylum seekers to be burned down amid unrest at an anti-immigration demonstration is likely to face imprisonment, a judge has said.

Joseph Haythorne, 26, posted on X on 4 August just as a protest outside the Holiday Inn Express, in Manvers, Rotherham, began to descend into rioting.

Sheffield Crown Court heard on Friday that Haythorne's post, from an anonymised account, was viewed by 1,100 people before he deleted it.

Haythorne, an engineer from Ashford, Surrey, admitted publishing material intended to stir up racial hatred at a previous hearing and will be sentenced on Tuesday.

Laura Marshall, prosecuting, said the post had included a link to a now-deleted post by the "perhaps divisive figure" Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.

She said the defendant's full post read: "Go on Rotherham. Burn any hotels [with asylum seekers]."

'Momentary lapse'

Ms Marshall said the case had some similarities with the case of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed last year for calling for "mass deportation now", adding "set fire to all the... hotels [housing asylum seekers]... for all I care".

The barrister also referenced the cases of Jordan Parlour and Tyler Kay, who both encouraged people on social media to attack hotels.

Bianca Brasoveanu, defending Haythorne, said he posted the comment in a "momentary lapse of judgement which he regrets every day".

She said there was no evidence he had deeply rooted views about immigration issues and was "more interested in football than politics".

The barrister said a medical report concluded that his struggle with depression could have exacerbated his reaction to social media content about the murder of three girls in Southport and posts by the controversial influencer Andrew Tate.

Protesters threw bricks and other missiles at officers and the hotel

However, the Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told the court: "Somebody who is looking at Andrew Tate's social media posts, and then taking these actions, is not suffering from a momentary lapse of judgement."

He called Haythorne's post "vile" and "dreadful racist nonsense", saying it "inflamed the situation - almost literally" at the hotel.

"He's tweeted this racist rubbish, 1,100 people see it in 17 minutes before he realised it was dreadful and then he takes it down.

"And, unfortunately, the damage is done."

Judge Richardson told Haythorne: "I am reasonably confident that you will be going to prison.

"It is, however, very important that I calibrate this sentence with great care."

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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