Jailed rioter threw wheelie bin at police officers

Sonny Ackerman was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday

A father-of-three who threw rocks and a bin at riot police guarding a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for more than two years.

Sonny Ackerman, 30, was among the crowd of people who descended on the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on 4 August.

During the hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, Ackerman was told he would have faced a longer sentence had it not been for his learning disability.

Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told Ackerman, of Birkdale Drive, Preston: "I very much doubt you even understood what the disorder was all about."

Video footage played in court showed a masked Ackerman throwing a rock at police lines at the height of the disorder outside the hotel, which housed 240 asylum seekers.

Sentencing him to two years and four months in prison, Judge Richardson said he had "little doubt" Ackerman was "easily led" but said the defendant knew what he was doing was wrong.

Further video showed the defendant helping to hurl a wheelie bin at officers who were trying to push back rioters.

This happened close to a larger bin, which had been set alight against the fire door of the building.

The court heard Ackerman was on bail for an offence of driving while disqualified at the time of the rioting.

The hotel was badly damaged by rioters who threw missiles at windows and police officers

The judge said: "This was a disgraceful episode - it shocked the entire country.

"Those involved were an ignorant mob and they must be punished. You were part of that ignorant mob."

Ackerman is the latest of more than 70 men who have been jailed after the rioting at the hotel.

Those inside the hotel were trapped on the upper floors as rioters broke in and started the fire in a bin at one of the exits, the court heard, filling the building with smoke.

More than 60 police officers were injured in the disorder, the sentencing heard.

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