Facebook user first to be jailed for stirring up racial hatred during riots

A Facebook user who encouraged people to attack a hotel housing asylum seekers has become the first person to be jailed for stirring up racial hatred during widespread disorder across England and Northern Ireland.

Jordan Parlour, 28, admitted posting on the social media platform between August 1 and August 5 urging others to target the building in Leeds, which at the time was housing more than 200 asylum seekers and refugees.

The hotel manager put the building into lockdown on Saturday due to the disorder in the city, and at least one window was broken after stones were thrown over the weekend.

On Friday, Parlour, of Seacroft, Leeds, was jailed for 20 months at Leeds Crown Court.

Judge Guy Kearl KC told him: “You were encouraging others to attack a hotel which you knew was occupied by refugees and asylum seekers.

“The overall effect of your post was to incite violence towards the building and therefore towards those in the hotel.”

He is one of two men who were jailed on Friday for stirring up racial hatred, as 26-year-old Tyler Kay was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court to 38 months in prison after taking to social media to call for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.

The court heard Kay posted on X, formerly Twitter, calling for mass deportation and advising protesters to “mask up”, and also retweeted a screenshot of a message inciting action against a named immigration solicitors in the town.

Judge Adrienne Lucking KC said Kay’s posts revealed he had a “fundamentally racist mindset”.

The pair are two of a handful of cases in which suspects have been charged with stirring up racial hatred since the widespread disorder began.

Elsewhere, former Labour councillor Ricky Jones, 57, was remanded in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being charged with one count of encouraging violent disorder after he was filmed addressing a crowd at a London demonstration on Wednesday evening.

Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram said: “It is alleged that using a microphone you addressed a crowd at an anti-fascist protest and, talking about others you described as ‘disgusting Nazi fascists’, you said ‘we need to cut their throats and get rid of them’.”

In another first since the recent widespread disorder began, a man who encouraged people to start a riot on social media became the first person from Wales to be convicted.

Richard Williams, 34, of Ewloe, Flintshire, posted about taking part in a riot and shared a derogatory meme about migrants in a local Facebook group dedicated to protests, Mold Magistrates’ Court heard.

Williams pleaded guilty to one count of sending menacing messages via a public communication network and was jailed for 12 weeks.

Joining Parlour at Leeds Crown Court were Sameer Ali, 21, and Adnan Ghafoor, 31, who were jailed for 20 months and 18 months respectively for an attack on “pro-EDL” protesters after rival demonstrations in the city.

The court was shown CCTV footage of a group of Asian men kicking and punching a smaller group of four white men, one of whom was draped in a Union flag and wearing a Union flag mask, on Saturday.

Another man appearing in the crown court in the Yorkshire city was Jordan Plain who was jailed for eight months after he was filmed making monkey gestures and shouting “rubber lips” towards black and Asian people.

He previously admitted racially aggravated harassment after he was filmed with others mocking Muslim prayers.

At Newcastle Crown Court, three men pleaded guilty to playing their part in violent disorder in Sunderland last week, while a 21-year-old man who posted videos of himself “roaring encouragement” at rioters to his own Instagram account was jailed for two years.

Bradley Makin, who admitted violent disorder as well as possession of cocaine and heroin, could be heard in the footage from August 2 encouraging others to carry out disorder, shouting “go on” and “every f window, come on”.

A woman who repeatedly pushed industrial bins at a police line during riots in Sunderland was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Leanne Hodgson, 43, of Holborn Road, Sunderland, deliberately ran into an officer and called another one a “f*** black c” during the disorder on August 2.

Balaclava-wearing rioter Josh Kellett, who was identified by his distinctive tattoos was also jailed for two-and-a-half years for his part in the city’s unrest.

In Southampton, Ryan Wheatley, 40, pleaded guilty to assault by beating of a police officer at a protest in the city on Wednesday.

Gareth Metcalfe, 44, admitted violent disorder in his home town of Southport on Tuesday, the day after three girls were killed in a fatal knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.

Jordan Davies, 32, was jailed for two years and four months at Liverpool Crown Court after he was seen with a knife near a vigil for the victims of the stabbing.

At Inner London Crown Court, Ozzie Cush, who kicked a police officer during large-scale disorder in Whitehall, was jailed for 10 months.

Teesside Crown Court saw a woman who pushed a burning wheelie bin into a police line jailed for 20 months.

Stacey Vint, 34, was sentenced for her part in the riots in Middlesbrough town centre on Sunday.

Charlie Bullock, 21, who was described as “the main instigator” of a large group pushing against a police line and throwing stones and rocks at officers, was jailed for 18 months.

In Sheffield, Kenzie Roughley, 18, was sentenced to two years and four months in a young offender institution after attacking a police van during unrest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham.

Three men were also jailed for more than two years each for taking part in riots in Hull on Saturday.

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court, 22-year-old tree surgeon Charles Smith pleaded guilty to affray after he was involved in disorder at the Cenotaph, central London on July 31.

In Plymouth, a man who threw rocks and smashed the door of a TK Maxx store during disorder in the Devon city was jailed for 32 months.

Justin Crimp, 49, had previously pleaded guilty to violent disorder and criminal damage at Plymouth Crown Court.

The Prime Minister said swift justice, including sentencing, has been a deterrent to more violent disorder.