Ten men who played leading roles in some of the most violent and destructive incidents during last summer’s nationwide unrest have received the longest prison sentences handed down in connection with the riots.
The disorder erupted after the Southport stabbings on July 29, 2024, in which three girls were killed by Axel Rudakubana at a dance studio.
In the days that followed, far-right mobs took to the streets in cities and towns across England, targeting police, asylum seekers, and public buildings.
In total, 544 people have now been sentenced for offences linked to the riots, with 473 receiving immediate jail time.
The most common offence was violent disorder, often accompanied by charges such as arson or assaulting emergency workers - more than half of those jailed were under the age of 30.
But it was the mob attack on the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, near Rotherham, on August 4, 2024, that resulted in the most severe punishments.
Several men who helped start or fuel fires outside the hotel — which housed over 200 asylum seekers — received jail terms of seven to nine years.
9. Lee Crisp
Jailed for 3 years and 4 months after pleading guilty to violent disorder, including abusing police and provoking the crowd outside the asylum‑seeker hotel in Rotherham on August 4. The court heard that his aggressive rhetoric energised the mob. | SYP Photo: National World
10. Peter Beard
Received 2 and a half years imprisonment for violently confronting police lines guarding the hotel during the Rotherham riot. Beard was a former soldier filmed pushing into police in riot gear Photo: National World