Liverpool rioter has hotel disorder charge dropped

Christopher Clayton, 66, denied charges relating to the unrest at a Holiday Inn Express in Manvers on 4 August

A man charged in connection with disorder in both Liverpool and Rotherham has had the South Yorkshire element of the case against him dropped.

Christopher Clayton admitted taking part in rioting in Liverpool on 3 August but denied charges relating to the violence which broke out at a Holiday Inn Express in Manvers the following day.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told Sheffield Crown Court as the 66-year-old was facing sentence for more serious matters in Liverpool, it would not be pursuing the other charges.

Clayton, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, will be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on a date to be confirmed.

Neil Coxon, prosecuting, said Clayton had filmed himself making disparaging remarks about police officers outside the hotel in South Yorkshire, but appeared to have left the scene before the situation erupted into major mob violence.

He said the CPS had "reviewed the situation" and decided to "offer no evidence" for the Rotherham charges of violent disorder and a racially aggravated public order offence.

Dozens of men have now been sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court following the hotel riot, which saw the building, housing more than 200 asylum seekers, besieged by people trying to set it on fire.

More than 50 police officers were injured, as well as police horses and dogs, and the asylum seekers and staff trapped in the hotel feared they would be burnt alive, a previous sentencing heard.

In Merseyside the total arrests made in relation to the riots so far stands at 136, with 94 people charged and 73 sentenced to a total of 156 years and six months in prison.

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.