A woman has been jailed after she provided a false alibi for a teenager who took part in widespread rioting outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Kaylee Cunningham, 36, told officers the 15-year-old boy was at her house when he was actually part of a group throwing rocks and wood at riot police outside a Holiday Inn Express hotel, near Rotherham, on August 4, last year.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how the boy was first arrested after a public appeal but was released by police after Cunningham provided him with the alibi.

He was eventually convicted of violent disorder after police examined his phone and found he had filmed himself taking part in the disorder.

Cunningham, of Kendray, Barnsley, was jailed for 12 months on Thursday afternoon (Mar 20) after admitting perverting the course of justice at a previous hearing.

Following a trial of issue on Thursday, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said he accepted her evidence she lied because she was trying to protect another teenage girl.

But he rejected her claim in the witness box that she had been pressured into lying by the boy’s father and noted the police had expressly warned her about the dangers of making a false statement.

Judge Richardson told Cunningham: “You have been very, very foolish and, I’m afraid, you have to be punished. I am entirely satisfied that his case is so serious an immediate custodial sentence is warranted.

“It was a pernicious act to do as you did, and you did it entirely wilfully. Courts do not like liars and you were a liar.”

Anti-migration protesters are seen during riots outside of the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, which is being used as an asylum hotel, on August 4, 2024 in Rotherham. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Judge Richardson said 105 days will count toward Cunningham’s sentence to mark the period she has been under an electronically monitored curfew.

He said he would give detailed sentencing remarks at a hearing on Tuesday.

The court heard the 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named, was given a 12-month referral order after admitting violent disorder at Sheffield Youth Court.

More than 70 people have been jailed at Sheffield Crown Court for their roles in the Rotherham disorder, which left 64 police officers, three horses and a dog injured as the hotel was converged on by about 400 people.

More than 200 asylum seekers and staff were trapped in the building, as some rioters broke into the building and attempts were made to set it alight.

Woman jailed after providing false alibi for 15-year-old who was at Yorkshire riot