On Friday, Sheffield Crown Court in the UK sentenced Thomas Burley, 27, to nine years in prison for intentionally setting fire in front of a hotel housing asylum seekers during anti-Muslim riots, according to Reuters.

• At School: Student Attacks Classmates with Knife in Czechia

• A Japanese Man Sleeps Only Thirty Minutes a Day… Why?

Burley pleaded guilty to deliberately starting a fire with the intent to endanger lives after he set fire to a trash container at the entrance of a hotel near Rotherham, northern England, on August 4.

Regarding the severe sentence, Judge Jeremy Richardson stated that Burley’s actions were “tainted by racism from start to finish.”

Richardson emphasized that Burley’s involvement in the chaos was driven by “malicious and ignorant posts” on social media.

• Fireball in Aden’s Sky: 5 Dead and 13 Injured in Gas Station Explosion

• Syria: Death and Injuries in the Collapse of a Pedestrian Bridge

Addressing the defendant, the judge said: “You were a key participant in ignorant and racist attempts to impose mob rule.”

Alicia Kay, the public prosecutor, stated that “Burley had placed logs in a burning trash container, positioned in front of the hotel’s entrance while staff and guests were sheltering inside.”

She added: “The hotel staff barricaded themselves in an emergency room, believing they were going to burn to death.”

• 17 Dead in Explosion at Indian Pharmaceutical Factory 

• How Divorce Affects Children Based on Their Age

Around 400 people targeted the hotel during riots that lasted several days, marked by violence, looting, arson, and racist attacks, following the deaths of three girls in Southport, northern England, on July 29.

Initially, Muslim migrants were blamed for the attack, a false accusation based on misinformation circulated online.

Since then, a suspect born in Cardiff, Wales, has been charged with the murder of the three girls.

This sentence is the longest issued so far in the UK related to these riots.