Rotherham riots: Boy, 18, jailed after knocking officer to ground and setting fire to fence in hotel riot
An 18-year-old boy who set fire to a fence and threw missiles at officers at the Manvers Way riots in 2024 has been jailed for four years.
Callum Bacon, now 19, was caught on police bodyworn camera at the scene of the widespread disorder outside a Holiday Inn Express on August 4, 2024.
There, the teenager was videoed as he kicked an officer’s riot shield and knocked them to the ground, threw objects at police and set fire to a fence.
Two months after the riot, Bacon was arrested following an appeal for information where police published the faces of dozens of people they wanted to question.
A statement from South Yorkshire Police released today (November 17) claims Bacon maintained his silence and refused to answer question about his behaviour at the hotel.
He was charged with violent disorder and arson, and later pleaded guilty to both counts.
Bacon, of Pontefract Road, Pontefract, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court today where he was jailed for four years.
The investigation into August 4 riot in Manvers last year has to date seen over 100 people sentenced to a total of over 250 years in prison.
The incident outside Holiday Inn Express was among last summer’s riots, all of which took place after misinformation was disseminated in the wake of a fatal stabbing in Southport that claimed the lives of three young girls.
An anti-immigration protest attended by over 700 people turned violent, with extensive damage to the ground floors of the Rotherham hotel and burning bins set inside the entrance and fire exits.
Previous sentencing hearings for those involved with the disorder have heard that 58 police officers, three police dogs and one police horse were injured during the course of the violence.
Some 22 members of staff present within the hotel barricaded themselves inside a kitchen, using three freezers, fearing they would die, the court has previously heard.
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