HS2 tunnelling leader and brother jailed for 3 years after rioting and attacking police at Rotherham migrant hotel
23 August 2024, 14:19
An HS2 tunnelling pit boss and his brother have both been jailed for three years for rioting outside a migrant hotel in Rotherham.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Paul and Luke Sissons, aged 37 and 34, from Barnsley, were at the front of a mob that attacked police officers outside the hotel on August 4.
The brothers took part in a range of offences including an attack on a police dog van and violent confrontations with riot officers, Sheffield Crown Court heard on Friday.
Both men pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing.
Paul Sissons - who is a tunnelling team leader on the HS2 project - was filmed for nearly four hours, first in a mob shouting at police and chanting "Tommy Robinson".
Sissons, 37, of Two Gates Way, Barnsley, was then captured as part of a group that violently rocked a police van with officers and a dog inside, 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 to the court of Sissons angrily kicking and pushing at the police line as they tried to push the crowd back.
His brother Luke Sissons, 34, of The Green View, Shafton, Barnsley, was also part of the mob rocking the van, and footage was shown of him at the front of group goading officers with riot shields who were pinned against the hotel wall.
Video was also shown to the court of Luke Sissons talking to a police officer before the main violence began.
He tells the officer he is a "w****er" and then asks him: "Why do you run away from immigrants, but when we do anything you f****** cosh us?"
Sissons also tells the officer: "I f****** hate police officers. You're grasses," and: "I f****** hate immigrants."
Dermot Hughes, defending both brothers, pointed out that they were both hanging their heads in shame on the videolink as the footage was shown to the judge.
He said they are both "thoroughly ashamed of their parts in this".
Mr Hughes said Paul Sissons, who shouted that he was not a racist on the prison videolink during the hearing, had had a well-paid job which was now in jeopardy, stressing that he was very well thought-of by his employers.
The Sissons brothers are the latest of more than 20 men who 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.
Judge Richardson said to the brothers: "You were right at the front of the mob attacking those police officers."
Referring to the footage of the small group of officers coming under attack against the wall of the hotel, he 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.
"It was a frightening incident and the young officers who were on that cordon must have been terrified by that mob."
