Police video shows moment man who called for 'every man and his dog' to attack asylum seeker hotel is arrested

Jordan Parlour admitted urging others to target the building in Leeds, which at the time was housing more than 200 asylum seekers and refugees.

The hotel manager put the building into lockdown on Saturday due to the disorder in the city, and at least one window was broken after stones were thrown over the weekend.

Parlour, of Seacroft, Leeds, was jailed yesterday for 20 months at Leeds Crown Court after calling online for “every man and their dog” to attack the hotel.

Rosemary Ainslie, acting head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said: “Let me be absolutely clear, people who think they can hide behind their keyboards and stir up racial hatred should think again."

A second man, 26-year-old Tyler Kay, was also jailed for social media posts at Northampton Crown Court after posting on X, formerly Twitter, that hotels housing asylum seekers should be set alight.

Speaking during a visit to The Yorkshire Post in Leeds yesterday in advance of the sentencings, Media Minister and Yorkshire MP Stephanie Peacock said those who have been inciting racist violence online can expect to face repercussions.

She said: "As the Prime Minister has said, if something is illegal offline it is illegal online. Those that are behaving or engaging in that sort of behaviour will and are seeing the full force of the law.”

Asked about the balance between prosecuting online incitement and ensuring free speech can continue on media platforms, Ms Peacock said: “I think we obviously have to use common sense. People are entitled to protest, people are entitled to disagree with the government or other organisations if that is what they want to do. But there is a massive difference between peaceful protests and expressing your opinion and violent, thuggish rioting. The two are not the same.”

Elsewhere as court cases linked to the riots continued at pace across the country, former Labour councillor Ricky Jones, 57, was remanded in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being charged with one count of encouraging violent disorder after he was filmed addressing a crowd at a London demonstration on Wednesday evening. He is accused of calling anti-immigration protesters ‘disgusting Nazi fascists’ and saying ‘we need to cut their throats and get rid of them’.

Other court cases yesterday saw Sameer Ali, 21, and Adnan Ghafoor, 31, jailed for 20 months and 18 months respectively for an attack on “pro-English Defence League” protesters after rival demonstrations in Leeds.

The court was shown CCTV footage of a group of Asian men kicking and punching a smaller group of four white men, one of whom was draped in a Union flag and wearing a Union flag mask, on Saturday.

The Government will have to “look more broadly at social media” after recent rioting, the Prime Minister has said in an apparent hint that further regulation could be considered.

False information spread on social media about the identity of the alleged Southport knife attacker has been seen as playing a role in sparking the recent violence, leading some to call for tougher regulation.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has been among those calling for reform, saying recent events have shown regulations due to come into force under the Online Safety Act are “not fit for purpose”.

Asked if he agreed with Mr Khan, Sir Keir said: “I do think that we’re going to have to look more broadly at social media after this disorder.”

He added that social media executives should be “mindful of the first priority, which is to ensure that our communities are safe and secure”.