Lewis Whitworth, 30, pleaded for leniency – a judge sent him to jail

A convicted drug dealer who took part in a ‘frightening’ attack outside a hotel which housed asylum seekers has been jailed.

On his way home from the pub, Lewis Whitworth, 30, a trainee mechanic, kicked a bus and joined a baying mob which hurled missiles and abuse at asylum seekers outside the premises close to his home in Newton Heath.

The trouble, said to have been organised by email, was part of the disorder which hit towns and cities across the country, including in Greater Manchester, following the fatal stabbings of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance club in Southport last month. Incorrect rumours – that the suspect in the stabbings was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a small boat – spread on social media and appears to have fuelled the trouble.

Violence erupted outside the hotel in Newton Heath two days after the stabbings.

Prosecutor Andrew Mackintosh told Manchester Crown Court on Wednesday that the disturbance took place following the incident in Southport on July 29 when three children were killed and two adults and eight other children were hurt.

He said ‘almost immediately after that incident people began organising protests online’ which were ‘principally’ aimed against asylum seekers who had been placed in hotels around the country.

One such protest was outside a hotel which housed asylum seekers in Newton Heath on July 31 to which organisers summoned protesters by email and mentioned the possibility of violence, according to Mr Mackintosh.

When police arrived at 4pm it was quiet despite a number of protesters in the area but it ‘didn’t remain quiet’, said Mr Mackintosh.

The defendant, unmasked unlike others and wearing a distinctive orange top, joined a number of protesters outside the hotel. One of them, not the defendant, tried to stop a bus which came under fire from missiles which smashed the front windscreen while the driver was assaulted, the court heard.

Footage shown in court captured Whitworth kicking the side of the bus while others repeatedly chanted ‘take the bus’.

The driver of the vehicle is heard to shout ‘behave yourselves’ before he is attacked, later asking terrified passengers ‘is everybody ok?’

In a statement read out in court, the bus driver said he had never experienced such ‘aggression’ in his 14 years in the job. He said he had to go to hospital and was left ‘very distressed’ and scared of talking to members of the public.

“I never imagine an incident like this could occur when I go to work. I don’t go to work expecting to be attacked. This has left me visibly shaken and frightened to go to work,” he said.

Another statement read to the court, from an asylum seeker who was staying at the hotel, said he was assaulted and he recalled members of the crowd ‘shouting abuse’ at him as he tried to make his way into the hotel where glass bottles were thrown at him and eggs were hurled at the premises.

Whitworth was also part of a group which was later captured on police footage hurling missiles, including broken bricks, towards riot cops, although the defendant was not seen to throw anything.

He was said to have laughed as the missiles were thrown at cops.

The court heard the footage was used to identify Whitworth who was later arrested and made no comment when he was interviewed.

Whitworth had five sets of previous convictions covering nine offences, the court was told, including a 32-month prison sentence for conspiracy to supply cocaine and heroin and a four-year jail sentence in 2019 for possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.

Holly Nelson, defending, pointed to the defendant’s ‘early guilty plea’ but stressed his role was ‘limited’ and that he was not among those who had ‘orchestrated’ the trouble.

Whitworth’s role was ‘unsophisticated’ as he was clearly identifiable because of his distinctive clothing and was unmasked, according to Ms Nelson. She said the defendant had expressed ‘regret’ and had been training to become a mechanic before the disorder.

On the day, he had been drinking in Manchester city centre and when he was on his way home on a bus ‘curiosity’ got the better of him when he saw the protest and he joined it, according to Ms Nelson.

The lawyer asked for the judge to suspend any prison sentence, adding the defendant’s ‘supportive’ mother who was watching from the public gallery had ‘become more reliant’ on him.

Judge Patrick Field KC told Whitworth: “You joined a really, at times, violent crowd in the vicinity of (a hotel). The crowd assembled there because the hotel was being used to house asylum seekers many of whom are no doubt vulnerable people.

“Many people in that crowd were plainly anxious to demonstrate their antipathy at the presence of asylum seekers there. The disorder that followed involved throwing of missiles including eggs, glass bottles and bricks towards police officers and towards asylum seekers who attempted to return to the hotel. The disorder also involved what can only be described as a frightening attack upon a bus driver which was brought to a halt by a member of the crowd.

“Missiles were thrown at it and one of them smashed the front windscreen. The driver was assaulted and he and his passengers fled the bus fearing for their safety. Your involvement in all of this, however, was rather limited. You were seen to approach the bus to kick its side and you were also present at the front of the crowd pointing and jeering at the police whilst others around including what appears to be children were throwing pieces of broken brick at the police.”

The judge added: “Behaviour of this nature, that is violent disorder, committed by angry crowds in these circumstances calls for deterrent sentences, sentences that will deter other people acting as you did in the future. With that in mind, I’m satisfied that the appropriate punishment can only be achieved by an immediate sentence of imprisonment.”

Whitworth, of Costabeck Walk in Newton Heath, Manchester, was handed an 18-month prison sentence after he had earlier admitted a single offence of violent disorder. He glanced at his mother in the public gallery as he was taken down.

Manchester Evening News