Boy threw burning missiles at police during riot

Approximately 400 people gathered outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers on 4 August

A balaclava-clad 14-year-old boy who hurled burning missiles and stones at police outside a hotel housing asylum seekers has been sentenced.

The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, threw a wheelie bin onto a fire and shouted racist abuse while outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham on 4 August.

The teenager, who admitted violent disorder and arson at an earlier hearing, was given a year-long intensive referral order at Sheffield Youth Court.

District Judge Marcus Waite told the teenager he was "pretty shocked" by his actions and said he would have been imprisoned had he been older.

Footage played in court showed the boy throwing various missiles at police, including items that had been set alight.

CCTV footage captured him filling up his pockets with stones from nearby residential driveways and later throwing them at officers.

Judge Waite told the defendant: "Other than one case, that’s the worst behaviour that I’ve seen and that to be done by a balaclava-ed up 14-year-old, I have to say is pretty shocking.

"If you were five years older, you’d go to prison for years."

The boy was one of five teenagers who appeared before Judge Waite on Wednesday in connection with the rioting in Manvers.

The Holiday Inn Express in Manvers was left with major damage after the rioting

The violence outside the hotel, which was housing more than 200 asylum seekers at the time, lasted for hours and left more than 50 police officers injured.

Another boy was filmed destroying a fence and arming himself with a plank of wood which he used to hit out at police officers' riot shields, the court heard.

The youth, who was 16 at the time, was also part of a group who kicked a police van and tried to tip another over.

The youth, who previously pleaded guilty to violent disorder, was also given a 12-month referral order.

A third boy, aged 15, became aggrieved when one of his friends was detained for throwing a plank of wood, resulting in him throwing stones at officers and shouting abuse.

The court heard the boy had harboured no political motivations and attended the scene after becoming "intrigued" by a police helicopter circling the area.

He admitted violent disorder and was handed the same sentence as the other youths.

Multiple fires were set around the hotel and windows were smashed in

A fourth boy, aged 15, also threw stones at police and armed himself with a cone after "feeling pressured into it", Judge Waite was told.

The teenager, who admitted violent disorder, was also handed a year-long referral order.

A 16-year-old girl pleaded guilty to violent disorder on Wednesday and is due to be sentenced at the youth court later in October.

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