HS2 team leader fronted riot mob who attacked police outside migrant hotel in Rotherham

Brothers Paul and Luke Sissons are jailed for three years at Sheffield Crown Court after admitting violent disorder

An HS2 team leader chanted “Tommy Robinson” during a riot outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, a court heard.
Brothers Paul and Luke Sissons were at the front of a mob attacking police officers guarding the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham on Aug 4.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how Paul Sissons, a tunnelling team leader on the HS2 project, was filmed over four hours shouting at police and chanting “Tommy Robinson”, the far-Right activist whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
Paul, 37, then violently rocked a police van with officers and a dog inside as part of a mob, and was later seen throwing missiles at a group of cornered officers.
Body worn camera footage from an officer holding a riot shield was also shown of him angrily kicking and pushing at the police line as they tried to push the crowd back.
Luke Sissons, 34, was also part of the mob rocking the van, with footage showing him at the front of a group goading officers with riot shields while they were pinned against the hotel wall.
Video was also shown of him telling an officer he is a “w—-r”. He then asks him: “Why do you run away from immigrants, but when we do anything you f—–g cosh us?
“I f—–g hate police officers. You’re grasses. I f—–g hate immigrants.”
Dermot Hughes, defending the brothers who appeared at the hearing by video link from prison, said they were both “thoroughly ashamed of their parts in this”.
Mr Hughes said Paul Sissons had a well-paid job which was now in jeopardy, stressing that he was very well regarded by his employers.
The Sissons brothers, of Barnsley, South Yorks, pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing. They were both jailed for three years.
More than 20 men have now been jailed at Sheffield Crown Court by Judge Jeremy Richardson KC following the Manvers disorder, which saw 58 police officers, three police dogs and a police horse injured, and involved rioters breaking into the hotel and trying to set the building alight.
Referring to the footage of the group of officers being attacked, Judge Richardson said: “It never ceases to frighten me, and I have the advantage of watching it days after the event in the security of this court room.
“The young officers who were on that cordon must have been terrified by that mob.”